The Fundraising
by luvtoshi
Summary: Victory celebration, fundraising activities, dueling competition, Konoha is celebrating, and love is in the air...a Naruto Sakura story


**- This is my first fan fiction story, a one shot, testing the waters as to say. English is not my first language, I am bad at fighting scenes, and I'm hoping on your indulgence…**

**- It's a frivolous plot, and I've taken inspiration from the medieval old times when warriors had to duel to win the heart of fair maidens, and from my own personal nostalgic memories of prom/ end of year parties, dancing the night away with gang of wonderful friends.**

**- Rated for some limes.**

**- Last but not least, I do not own Naruto. **

Prologue

The 4th ninja war had dragged for 2 years; 2 long years during which the alliance force, which consisted of the best shinobi of the five nations, fought with all their might. Many lives were lost, many young strengths came forth, but the main instigator of this fight, Uchiha Maadara, had proved to be a mighty tough opponent. He had been on the hiding mostly, directing his troops from the shadows, so that it had been very difficult to put a stop to his moves. Finally, after 2 years, he came out in the open to fight, and a raging battle followed with multiple shinobis, which included some of the kages, as his opponent. But whoever fought with the old resurrected Uchiha got defeated, he had been unstoppable. Then, the break through came from a much unexpected person, and finally, the psychopath Uchiha Maadara got defeated. Without that unexpected intervention, the war would have either dragged on past 2 years, or maybe the final conclusion would have been something else.

Then, after the fall of Maadara, it took about 4 months to finally get rid the 7 bijuus which the Akatsuki had collected and which the crazed man had made sure to release before he died. Naruto and Bee had been the only one to be able to deal of the bijous, as no human being could have dealt with the demons anyway. And at last, 1 week ago, the last remaining bijuu had been dealt with, the few remaining followers of the late Maadara dealt with, and the war had been wrapped up and officially proclaimed as over, victory being to the allied force.

Being that the last battle had been held in the fire country territory, Konoha had been the host village of the alliance troops during these last weeks. Now, one week past the end of the war, Konoha was still full with ninjas from the 5 countries of the alliance, as each Kages still had to deploy their troops back to their respective home villages. The wounded ninjas were still recuperating, and since Konoha hospital and staff was reputed to be the best among all the nations, Konoha had been the best place to linger right then. The Kages had all decided, though, that they will depart at the end of the week.

**XOXOXO**

The 5th Hokage sat in her office, deep in thoughts. She had just returned from a meeting with the council and the Fire country's Damyo, and it had been decided from that meeting that Konoha would host a festivity day as the celebration of the victory of the alliance force in the 4th ninja war. The coming Sunday, which would be the last day before each kages and their troops moved from Konoha, had been designated for the celebration day. A set of activities, such as parades and usual stuffs like musical entertainments and food fairs etc, with a ball dance in the night ending with fireworks, had been agreed upon. The necessary arrangements would have to be promptly made to organize everything on time.

Now, while Tsunade was all set to make the day a memorable day for everybody, at the same time, her shrewd mind was planning on how to get some money in from this event. The money would be for a project that she held close to heart.

Konoha had not suffered drastically in terms of physical damage during the war, seeing that the most rampant battles had been done away from the village, on deserted borders mainly, but what with the previous Pain attack and some rather severe invasion during the last 2 years, the village was still somehow bent on its knees. The rulers of the fire country had seen to the finance necessary for the reconstruction of the most important matters, such as population dwellings and reparation of the administrative buildings; but Tsunade was unhappy with the little attention which had been given to the welfare of the newly created war orphans. Many shinobi families had fallen during this war, leaving behind orphans who do not have any living family to turn to anymore. Tsunade adamantly did not ever want to have other orphans like Orochimarus, Nagatos, Narutos or Sasukes again, so she really wanted to do what she could to alleviate the hardship that these kids may have in store for the future. The finance she had been given had been just enough to build a basic residence for the half a dozen orphans, and though she knew that it would be actual human caring which these orphans would need, it would not hurt to have a nice and properly equipped residence to start with. She had already scheduled to assign a special caring staff to look after the emotional needs of these orphans, she herself vowed that she would make as much time as possible for them, and she already won the battle with the council about proper allocations and pensions given to them until the day they can earn for themselves.

Now what she needed was some more money to provide some small luxuries to these children; things like individual rooms for each of them, a nice playing park, a recreational room, even a pool if possible. For that, she would need to find a new source of money, money which the council had refused to approve. So, why not turn towards the generosity of the population, she thought. But she needed a consequent amount of donation, and she knew that people tended to give more when they get something in return, so, she had come up with the bright idea taking the opportunity of the festivity day to organize some fundraising activities.

Coming out of her thoughts, she called out for Shizune.

Her dark haired assistant appeared instantly. "Hai, Tsunade sama."

"Shizune, please go to the library and get me information of all possible ideas of fundraising activities. We have a big fundraising event to arrange," her rapped, tone was brisk.

Shizune quirked her eyebrow at her master, but thought better not to ask question right now. "Hai, Tsunade sama. I'll be back as fast as possible with the needed data."

With that, Shizune disappeared.

**XOXOXO**

1 day later…

"NANIIIIII?"

The obfuscated shout which rang out could be heard around a large radius, causing a few the birds to screech away in fright.

"Nani Nani Nani? What is the meaning of this? "

The most unpredictable ninja of Konoha was spluttering in indignation, pointing to a flyer held in one hand, as if wanting to strangle the paper. The flyer in question was the itinerary and activity list of the big celebration day, which was to be held on the coming Sunday, only 3 days away. The major part of the list was for fundraising activities such as games tournaments and betting. But what had really caught the indignation of the 18 years old blond boy was the following:

Duel for a Kunoichi!

Duel and Win a dinner and ball dance date with a Kunoichi. The rules are:

Xxxxx The participation ticket for a duel cost 100 ryous

Xxxxx Only one participation per shinobi is allowed

Xxxxx A duel will be of 3 minutes length, the first one on ground loses the duel.

Xxxxx If there is a stalemate after the 3 minutes allocated, the duelers can re-run another duel if they wish to win, but new participating ticket will have to be bought.

Xxxxx After a duel, a 3 minutes deadline is given for another participant to challenge the winner.

Xxxxx The winner of a duel does not need new participation ticket to duel with a challenger.

Xxxxx No class A and above levels techniques allowed.

Xxxxx Civilians wanting to participate can buy the services of a shinobi to fight in their place, this costing an additional 20 ryous on top of the 100 ryous participating fee.

Xxxxx The kunoichis to be dueled for are:

Haruno Sakura

Hyugaa Hinata

Yamanaka Ino

Ten-ten

Temari

Though the activity itself might not warrant such a violent reaction, it was mostly the name of the participants which was really putting the youngster in such an infuriated state. One name in particular.

Nara Shikamaru rubbed his stinging ear, having been unfortunate to be close enough to the yelling blond.

"Naruto, you are too troublesome."

"But Shikamaru, this is such a terrible thing! Selling out dates with our kunoichis like that! What has Tsunade Baa Chan been thinking, doing such a…such a _dirty_ competition!"

Chouji was happily munching chips, not really getting what the fuss was about. He and Shikamaru had been sitting at their usual hangout place, on the high grounds on Konoha, watching clouds, when Naruto and Sai had come to their way. Shikamaru had handed out a flyer to each of the 2, being that he was on the council and being among the first to get a batch of these. Chouji had already looked at the activity list, spotting lots of interesting activities and games scheduled for the big D day, and he could not understand Naruto's reaction to that particular competition.

"Jeez, Naruto, what's dirty about it? It's only a _dinner_ date and the kunoichi is to accompany the winner to the ball scheduled in the evening," Shikamaru said exasperated. "And the godaime is right on this, this is a good way to raise some funds, and with all the alliance shinobi still in Konoha, this will surely attract a lot of participants-"

"But that's IT!" Naruto cut in, "Who knows what types of weirdo and perverts will want to participate in this-this…this THING! Baa-chan has lost her mind or what, putting this type of game up? And what was Sakura chan thinking, agreeing to this! "

Shikamaru gave an annoyed sigh. He should have guessed that it was seeing Sakura's name in there that was bringing such a reaction from his friend.

Sai, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up. "Oh, is it wrong to win women in competitions?"

"SAI! " Naruto almost screeched.

"Sai, it's not really the _woman_ that will be won here, it's a _date_ and the _company_ of the kunoichi which will be won," Shikamaru patiently tried to explain to the social dork. "It's just a game, meant for fun, you get it?"

"But, what's the difference?" Sai persisited, frowning. Shikamaru gave up, defeated, not knowing how to explain properly.

"And Temari? She is not even a Konoha shinobi, so how come she is participating?" Naruto charged at Shikamaru.

"Well, being that Temari is a long time friend of Konoha, the Godaime asked her if she wanted to participate, and she agreed to help out."

"And you are OK with that?"

Shikamaru glared at Naruto. "And why should I object? It's not as if we are a couple!"

"Well, you two are together a lot…"

"That does not mean anything, ok? It's just for diplomatic reasons."

"Then why are you blushing?"

"I'm NOT!"

"What's the party about?" A cheerful voice asked, as Kiba, with Akamaru at heel and Shino following at a slower pace behind appeared. The friends greeted each other. "So, what are you guys so excited about?" Kiba repeated, looking enquiringly at Naruto and Shikamaru.

"Have you seen this?" Naruto poked the flyer into Kiba's face.

"Hey watch my face! Yes I have, what about it?" Kiba grabbed the said flyer to look at it curiously.

"Well, have you seen the duel for a Kunoichi competition?" Naruto asked agitatedly.

"Yes, that's a brilliant idea to raise some money," said Kiba, looking at the rattled face of his friend, not understanding why he was so displeased.

"What? You too? You are not disturbed by this? You guys are so out of it?" Naruto exclaimed heatedly, puffing in indignation.

"Naruto, what's the big deal?" asked Shino, in his usual calm voice.

Naruto looked at Shino, almost insensed; at least, at the tiny visible part of his face, "Well, aren't you guys worried about our teammates being offered, er, exposed like that?"

"Naruto, it's just a dinner date and a ball date, why are you jumping to such drastic conclusion?" Kiba shook his head in bewilderment.

"That's not nice of you youths to leave another youth out of your fun!" Green clad Lee appeared, tagging along a dazed Neiji, who was still wondering how come he had been deflected from his way to home. "Neiji and I were returning from the training grounds and we heard you…"

"Lee, Neiji, Naruto is unhappy about the Win a Kunoichi competition," Kiba quickly explained.

"Oh, that? But I think it's a brilliant idea for the youth to fight for a fair blushing young maiden!" Lee yelled, punching the air with his fist, flames appearing in his eyes, making the others sweatdrop.

After hearing another indignant tirade from Naruto, Neiji decided to intervene.

"But Naruto, if there is a certain _kunoichi_ that you would like to win a date from, you can participate in this too, so what's the issue?" Neiji purposely stressed on the Kunoichi, knowing what, or most specifically, who was really bothering Naruto so much in that list.

That quietened Naruto, and the blond young man got lost in his own thoughts. Of course he wanted to participate. In all his heart he wanted to participate. A younger Naruto would not have hesitated for one second before shouting on top of the roofs and jumping in to win a date with…Sakura chan. But, for this older Naruto, things were much more complicated. However much he wanted to get into this competition to win a date with Sakura, something was holding him back. There was this delicate boundary of the tight friendship that has grown between him and Sakura, that he feared to cross. There was this almost sacred line of respect that had erupted between them, and such a brazen action like dueling for her would be too inappropriate, too brash, for him to do. And, moreover, most importantly, he was sure that Sakura would not want to have a date with him. Hadn't she always refused his dates in the past? He felt that it was not right to now force her hand in this way. So, he was stuck in a tight position. Meaning that, all in all, it would probably leave the field clear for any Johns and Joes and Harrys to get to Sakura from this competition.

He scowled unhappily at the idea of a stranger pawing _his_ Sakura chan.

"And Naruto, anyway, what do you expect to happen in a simple date?" Neiji continued.

All the others looked expectantly at Naruto. None of them had ever been on a date, so the terrain was very new to all of them.

What does he expect in a date? Naruto scrunched his face in concentration as he thought. Well, usually, in his fantasies, his date with Sakura chan would start by him arriving at her door with a bunch of flowers. Then, after the proverbial admiration of the beautiful flowers from her side, they would set out for their destination, which would be the best and most romantic in town (he was always rich in this fantasy of his...hey, it was called fantasy for a reason, after all!) Afterwards, over dinner, they would lovingly gaze into each others eyes, and their hands would be entwined on the table. Dinner over, they would have a short stroll in the moonlit street, hands in hands, or maybe his arms around her waist, and maybe she would even placed her head romantically on his shoulder as they walk. When finally they will reach her home, it would be THE time. Time for THE KISS. The famous goodbye kiss, before they parted.

And sometimes, on days when he felt particularly horny, his fantasy would go even further, the date would proceed beyond her doors, where her parents would be conveniently absent. They would make out on the couch, where Naruto would put good use of what that old pervert Jiraiya had forced him to read from his Icha Icha Make Out Tactics book. Naruto felt a delightful shiver run down his body at that thought. In his fantasies, a date with Sakura chan is NOT simply a date. But ok, in real life though, if ever he had the opportunity to date Sakura chan, he was very well aware that he would never do dare all that, at least not the way as they were right then, but still…

He surfaced from his thoughts, focusing back to his friends and intending to explain to them his thoughts, only to find everybody gaping at him, consternation in their expressions.

Kiba seemed about to be sick. Neiji had a slight flush on his cheeks. Lee's eyes were even wider than they usually were. Shikamaru looked flustered. Even the expressionless Sai looked disturbed.

"A date is THAT a big deal?" Kiba whispered, green in the face.

"Naruto… How Troublesome!" Shikamaru muttered.

"Huh?" Naruto looked at his friends, weirded. He had not even his mouth yet, so what was it with these guys? The troubled silence followed.

"Hinata…Sweet innocent Hinata…How will she…." Kiba mumbled. Neiji did not even react to these words, which was unusual, seeing how protective he was of his Hyugaa cousin.

Naruto felt a twinge of guilt, he had not even thought about the Hyugaa girl in all this. He should have, seeing that she confessed her feelings to him 2 years ago…But as they had discussed long ago, anything out of it would be unfair to both of them, most particularly for her, since Naruto's heart was so taken up elsewhere. It was not important that where his heart lay was a hopeless story, but still, his heart _was_ taken. He respected and valued Hinata too much to be with her due to that. And she had respected his decision.

Looking at his friends now, he decided he better left them, since anyway he had urgent matters to see to now. "Um...Ok guys, I need to talk to Sakura chan, so I'm leaving. Ja ne!" With that, he departed.

The group still had not moved from their stupor. Naruto had not said a word during his silent picturing of a date, sure, but the myriad of expressions which had crossed his face had been eloquent enough; his abashed smile, his flush, his eyes glazing, his near drooling and finally his nosebleed. No words had been necessary, the little group had their own imagination to put pictures into form from his expressions alone.

"Damn, this is going to be so troublesome" said Shikamaru.

"I'm going off to the library to look for a book about dating" said Sai, and disappeared.

Slowly the group dispelled, each deep in thoughts.

**XOXOXO**

Some minutes later….

"But Sakura chan, why did you accept to be in this stupid competition?"

"Come on Naruto, it's not a stupid competition, and why not anyway? It's for a very good cause! "

Sakura had been having a very hectic day at the hospital, what with so many injured patients still fluxing in. She still had a million things to do, but she could not refuse to spare some time for Naruto when the latter popped up in the hospital. She always made sure that she make some time for Naruto; in fact, she always welcomed the break when he popped by. But right then, though, the subject of his visit was starting to annoy her.

"What's so bad about it, Naruto?" She insisted, "It's supposed to be fun, it's a good way of raising funds without having to invest any money in, and you know we need all the funds we can have right now. And it's just a dinner date and to accompany the winner to the ball, what's so bad about that?"

Tsunade had omitted to make public the specific project for which the fundraising was being held, having been vague and saying for it would be for re-construction purpose. But she had informed the kunoichis about exact details. It was the reason that Sakura and the others had immediately agreed to participate in the competition. The idea of helping to make a better living place for the war orphans had greatly appealed to the kunoichis. Sakura looked at her blond friend, needing to raise her head now to look into his blue eyes, as he had now grown taller than her by almost 1 foot. Should she tell him about the project? Maybe if he knew he would not be so much against the idea, she thought. But then, looking at his indignant scowling face, she decided against it. She much preferred to see her best friend sputtering in indignation over what he thought was a ridiculous competition which was urging up his protective instincts, rather than see him sad and pained, which, she was sure would happen if he was exposed to facts such as the war orphans and the issues. It was not the time for that yet. It was only just beyond one week that the war had been over, and Naruto deserved a good break from anything painful for the moment.

_He would know about it later anyway, but no need to right then,_ she thought.

Naruto, on the other hand, was pouting at the casual way which Sakura was taking all this, same as all the others. "But Sakura chan…Isn't it a bit too…medieval? Having random unknown men fighting for a date with you? "

"Why, do you think I'm not good enough to have men dueling for me?" Sakura's voice was haughty, nose in the air, one eyebrow raised.

_She has the daintiest nose in the world,_ thought Naruto, as he watched her haughty pose. And her words sank in. "Sakura chaaaan!" He immediately whined, "You KNOW I did not mean that you are not good enough. I was just thinking about all the weirdo that will be dueling, you know…Who knows what sort of perverts they can be?"

Knuckles lightly punched his head. "Naruto!" Sakura growled, exasperated, "We are not porcelain dolls, you know! We are Kunoichis, and strong Kunoichis, at that! And don't worry, I know how to knock off perverts, I've had good practice over the years!" she eyed him pointedly when she said that, "We CAN deal with a dinner date and a ball dance, come on! It's just. A. Simple. Dinner. Date. And. A . Ball. Date! Now, chill off !"

"Ow Sakura chan, that was low," Naruto pouted. "I am not a pervert!"

"And stop pouting, you are 18 years old now and the beloved international hero, so live up to that image!" She said dryly. She certainly had not missed how all the female staff, right from the youngest the very oldest one, had been blushingly gushing at the sight of the tall handsome species of male that her friend had turned into. He was the heartthrob of Konoha now, he even had a string of fan girls.

Flapping her writing board on his head for further effect, she shooed the protesting young man towards the door, then turned on her heels and left Naruto there, getting back to her work.

Naruto watched her walking away, admiring her beautiful pink hair, her graceful gait, her delicate spine which led down to her wonderful backside-

He shook his head furiously, chasing his dangerously wandering thoughts away. Hell would break loose if she caught him ogling at her like that. He could even feel the pain of being knocked through the walls of the hospital towards the other end of Konoha.

_I have to find a way to stop this nonsense of a competition,_ he thought, turning to leave to the hospital. His next stop must be…

**XOXOXO**

Some more minutes later.

A blond framed, hazel colored eye was twitching furiously, a sign of an imminent explosion. "Naruto baka! It's just a COMPETITION! And, can't you use the door like anybody else? Do you need follow Jiraiya in all his steps?" Tsunade barked.

Naruto jumped off from the window, landing lithely on his feet in front of the annoyed Hokage. "Baa-chan, what were you thinking, exposing Sak...I mean, exposing the girls to such a thing? Do you know what types of men we have right now in Konoha? What sort of weirdo and perverts there must be?"

The Hokage was getting angrier by minute. "Naruto! These 'weirdo' as you are saying, are the faithful soldiers of the alliance, who, same like you, have fought with their lives in this 4th war to save us all! Don't you dare discredit them so! And the girls you are talking about are all jounin levels and are among the strongest kunoichis of the 5 nations, they CAN handle a dinner date and a ball date! Stop being such a baka about all this!"

"But why them particularly?" persisted Naruto.

"Huh? Well THEY all have willingly agreed to it! They are all single, young, beautiful and of age, and have a will of their own, you know? And now, stop acting like a jealous boyfriend which you are not, and scoot off from here before I ring your neck!"

"Gah!" The 'jealous boyfriend' part rubbed Naruto in the wrong way. _It was not as if I don't want to be so,_ he thought sulkily. The Hokage looked at the young blond man, inwardly smirking. 

_Well, maybe this will give him the much needed kick to do something about my apprentice, _she thought. It was high time the village started to have some fun again, the war was behind them, and it was time to have some love in the air.

"And instead of whining, why don't you participate and make sure to win? A hero like you will not have any difficulty in winning, I'm sure". She looked at the blush that crept up his cheeks, amused. "Now, get off, I have lots of work to do."

"Yeah yeah, I can see that," Naruto riposted, pointedly eyeing the glass of sake that the Godaime had barely managed to hide when he had burst through her window. He ducked in time to avoid a projectiled pen from piercing him. "And I still think you are very wrong to offer up the kunoichis like that!" were Naruto departing words, quickly closing the door behind him.

Tsunade frowned, rubbing her temples in thought. Now, she was feeling a bit doubtful herself. Was she really putting her girls in danger? GAH. That baka had succeeded to plant some doubts in her mind.

"You!" She called out. Immediately, an ANBU appeared, crouching beside her.

"Hai, Hokage sama."

"Get a team ready for Sunday evening, for chaperoning duty, just in case."

The usual mask made that there was no way to say if the man was surprised by this queer query, and his voice rang out in the same monotonous expressionless tone of the ANBU.

"Hai, Hokage sama!" And with that he disappeared.

Naruto was walking away from the Hokage tower. There was a last hope that he can still manage to 'save' Sakura…

**XOXOXO**

Some more minutes later….

"No." Anybody else would have been cowering from the killing intent coming from the glaring black eyes, but Naruto was totally unfazed by the look.

"But you HAVE to participate in this duel and win!" using his most convincing tone, Naruto tried to win over those black eyes.

"No."

Eyes scrunched, arms folded in front of him in a determined posture, Naruto was far from giving up. "But you HAVE to! Then no weirdo will have the chance to be with her. Though YOU are not far from a weirdo yourself." The last part was mumbled in a low voice, but still, the other person heard, but before he could anything out of his mouth, Naruto continued. "Besides, she must be wishing that YOU would fight for her."

"Dobe…"came the growling voice, menace increasing.

But Naruto was not the tiniest bit affected. "Teme!" he shot back. "You surely don't want any stranger to be with her, right? You know you are the only one she wants !"

Dark haired black eyed Uchiha Sasuke gave an annoyed sigh, and an inner groan. "Dobe, how many more times do I have to tell you that I am NOT interested in her…"

"Teme…," it was Naruto's turn to be growling, "Don't you dare hurt her again…"

"-and she is NOT interested in me anymore," continued the dark eyed boy, not even acknowledging the interruption.

Naruto paused, evaluating the words. It was true that since the 4 months Sasuke had get back in their life, Naruto had not seen any signs that Sakura still held any romantic inclinations towards the Uchiha, nor had he seen Sasuke having any warm eye for her – but he was a cold emo, the teme, anyway, so no surprise here.

_But 4 months were still too short, too early yet, _Naruto thought. Maybe they needed more time, maybe Sakura needed more time. Sure, both Sakura and he had willingly chased the ghosts of the past events which occurred with the Uchiha, and the three of them had a very long cleansing conversation about things; well mostly Naruto and Sakura talking and Sasuke hn-ning and sincerely apologizing. He was after all their precious person, the one for whom they had worked hard and grown so powerful and for whom they had shed blood tears to bring back home. How could they NOT forgive him, especially considering the fact that Naruto was maybe still alive due to the unexpected intervention of Sasuke in the battle with the psychopath Madaraa. But still, maybe some things needed more time to evolve, maybe these two needed more time to come about their feelings. That was what Naruto believed.

Sasuke turned to make his way back in his compound, signing that the discussion was over. The two of them had had a couple of discussions about Sakura since the 4 months that Sasuke had returned to Konoha, and on those times the Uchiha had tried to make the blond fool understand that he was not interested in her, but it seemed that his statements always fell to deaf ears.

_He will need to get this on his own,_ Sasuke shrugged. He was not surprised when he heard Naruto following him inside the house. He had not closed the door purposely, knowing that Naruto would come inside.

In compensation for having defeated Madaraa, and since he had not been been in Madaraa's side during the war, he and his team Hebi, had been given, albeit quite grudgingly, immunity from all 5 nations, and he had been given his rights to the Uchiha estate and money by Konoha. The only punishment that he has had to bear was the canceling out of his mangyekou sharingan. He had not really minded, because anyway the mangyekou had been slowly turning him blind, so, in any case, getting rid of it had in fact ensure that he still keep his eyesight. The Hyugaa had helped Tsunade in the sealing of the Mangyekou. So, now, he was only left with a normal sharingan.

At first, after he had returned, he had been met only with hatred and coldness from the majority of the shinobi, who had still considered him very much as the traitor, except for Sakura and Naruto. It had been very difficult for him and still was, and he had withdrawn to himself, going out only with Sakura and Naruto, and that because the blond dobe had taken into shadowing him whenever he had not been away to war. But very slowly some more people had begun to accept him again, starting with the rookie 9 and team Gai, especially since they were all aware that it was due to him that Naruto was safe and that he had a big role in the alliance winning the war. That had played a big role in his redemption in their eyes.

"I really think you should participate," Naruto was still grumbling, as he followed Sasuke inside his kitchen. His familiarity with the place denoted his frequent visits to the Uchiha residence. Naruto saw a saucepan containing water on the stove, indicating that Sasuke had been in process of preparing lunch when he had come banging at his door.

"Ramen?" interest sparked in his voice, competition talk forgotten.

"Hnn." Came the reply, as the Uchiha opened a cabinet to take out 2 more packs of instant ramen.

"I'll get the plates."

"Hn."

**XOXOXO**

3 days later…

It was bright sunny day in Konoha, a perfect day to hold the festivities for the victory of the 4th war. The whole village had been brightly decorated, people were happily milling about. The day had started with the parade of the shinobi war forces, with the ninja wearing their official uniforms and proudly marching through the village main road, each nation's shinobi walking in groups led by their respective Kages. A marching music band had accompanied them, and crowds had gathered on each side of the road to cheer the heros. Then the day had proceeded with some artists playing some local music, and many more other entertainments.

The fundraising activities were being held in one of the training grounds. There as well, the overall atmosphere was very festive, food stalls offering a large variety of choices for all tastes, kids laughingly pushing around, civilians and shinobis cheerfully trying their luck in games and bets. The biggest attraction of it all though, was, as Tsunade has expected, the win a Kunoichi competition. That particular event was held in a large training dojo situated at the edge of the ground. It was a huge training dojo, similar to the one which had been used for the semi final stage for the chunin exams.

For time-wise practicability, the duels for the 5 kunoichis were to be held simultaneously, all under the same roof. Since there were 5 competitions to be carried out, the huge dojo had been divided into 5 fighting areas, each area having a Jounin acting as referee for the duels to be run. The 5 kunoichis were seated on the elevated balcony, each one of them at the head of their fighting area. The spectators were all crowded on the remaining 3 sides of the balcony, which ran all around the dojo, safely out of the fighting areas. The crowd, not surprisingly, consisted mainly of young males, though some of the fellow female kunoichis had come to support their friends.

For the occasion, as per the request of Tsunade, the 5 kunoichis had donned civilian clothes, and the younger set on the spectator crowd looked at beautiful kunoichis, impressed, while the older or already taken shinobi, who had mainly come to watch the spars rather than to actually participate, watched on indulgently.

At 10 am sharp, a gong resonated throughout the huge dojo, announcing the beginning of the competitions.

A first group of 5 pretenders got forward, each taking stance in the square they chose, and the subsequent referee announced the names. And among these pretenders, Uzumaki Naruto walked onto the area designated for Haruno Sakura. Sakura had to clamp on her lips to avoid smiling. She could not say that she was overly surprised to see Naruto coming up to fight for her. She had had a suspicion - and a secret hope - that her friend would come forward for her, seeing how obfuscated he had been with the idea of this competition. Her green eyes danced with amusement as she saw how Naruto was carefully avoiding to look in her direction at all, and even from her high vintage and distance she could detect a faint blush on his cheeks before he turned his back to her to face his first challenger.

"The baka…" she thought.

"For the square of Haruno Sakura, the first challenger to Uzumaki Naruto , Rock Lee!" announced the referee.

"Yosh! I will put all my youth spirit in this challenge to fight you for the hand of the lovely Sakura san!" Yelled the green clad, bushy brow, enthusiastic Lee.

"Yes Lee! That's the way of youth!" A replying yell could be heard above from the crowd, as an older sosie of Lee could be seen jumping around. Everybody who knew Gai and Lee bore a huge sweatdrop. And Sakura, as much as she liked and respected Lee, could not help but do a face slap and groan.

At the signal of the referee, Naruto and Lee stood face to face, taking their fighting stance. Since Class A and above levels techniques were prohibited, that counted out his rasengan, rasenshiruken, any sage mode related techniques and even by far, Kyuubi help. He had even been limited to use only 1 kage bunshin.

"So, we finally fight for Sakura-san, don't we?" Lee excalimed. "Beware, Naruto, I will not hold back."

Naruto grinned at his friend. "I don't expect you to, Lee." But inside, he knew that he should end this fight as fast as possible, because even HE could not really match up to the great Taijutsu specialist that was Lee, and since already he could not use most of his strong techniques, Lee had quite an advantage over him.

The fight started, and both set off with their best hand to hand fight. Naruto concentrated on evading most of the incoming punches of Lee, and managed to make some of his own punches reach target. Then, by the end of the 2nd minute, he got an opening and landed a wind enhanced punch directly on Lee. Immediately using the surprise effect, he followed by a kick and another punch, ending the fight and winning the round. Inclining sportsly at his friend, Lee congratulated him.

The first round winners were shortly announced, among which figured Naruto and Kiba. Kiba gave a satisfied smile as he savored his victory. He had not been allowed to use Akamaru, much to his dismay, but he vowed to do his maximum to win for Hinata.

Shikamaru, who was among the spectators and was leaning casually against the railing from where he was standing, looked at the guy who had won the duel for Temari. He was from Kiri, and was decent looking enough, but Shikamaru could not help feeling annoyed. Lee came up to join his friends, namely Shikamaru, Chouzi, Neiji, Shino and Sai.

"Aren't you guys going to get a go?" He asked. Nobody replied.

Half an hour later….

Naruto and Kiba was still standing in their ring. Both were breathing hard, but they had a triumphant look which showed that they were having a good time as well. Sai had joined in the duel, fighting for Ino. He didn't really know how he reached there, but having looked at Ino for about 15 minutes, he decided that he wanted to try his luck. He had read in a book that in the medieval era, young maidens liked to have warriors dueling for them. If this was the only way to get Ino to notice him, then why not, he thought. He had won 3 duels so far.

Ten-ten was looking quite nervous, as she watched the pretendent who had won 3 duels for her so far. He was very strong, from Suna, and seeing his strength, it seemed that there were not many who wanted to challenge him.

"Ten-Ten does not look too happy," Lee said, to no-one in particular.

Neiji frowned as he looked at his female teammate's slight nervous look. He did not like the look of the Suna guy as well. Not pausing to think, he jumped on the arena and made his way to buy the participating ticket.

"Hey Neiji, you finally decided to join in!" Naruto cheered, grinning widely.

The young Hyugaa quietly nodded, not being able to hide the blush that crept up his cheeks. He carefully avoided looking at Ten-Ten when he took his place on the square.

"Shikamaru…"Chouji murmured, stopping to munch on his potato chips for a second and looked sideways at the young Nara.

Shikamaru gave a heavy sigh. "Yeah I know," he drawled. "Boy, this is so troublesome."

It had been difficult to miss the glares that Temari had been sending his way for the past hour. He looked sideways at the Kazekage, who had come in some minutes earlier. As if sensing the stare on him, Gaara swerved his head to look back at him, as usual, face expressionless. After eyeing the young Nara lengthily, he gave a slight nod, which made Shikamaru gave an inner sigh of relief. He had no compunction to admit that he feared the silent Kazekage, especially when it came to Temari, and he certainly would not have jumped in to claim a date under the nose of her brother if the latter had shown any sign of disapproval.

Giving another sigh, Shikamaru lazily made his way towards the ticket stand. He would have to wait for the next duel, as there was already a new challenger in her square. He as well carefully avoided to look at Temari in the eye when he later made his way in her square.

**XOXOXO**

2 hours into the competition….

As the news that the Konoha hero, Uzumaki Naruto, was fighting has spread around, it seemed that whole village had rushed in to watch the fights. The dojo was packed to the fullest.

The 5 Kunoichis were still on the run. The duels were now being maintained by the 5 young Konoha shinobi, i.e Naruto, Kiba, Neiji, Shikamaru and Sai, all of them being very resolved to keep their places. And, as the whole shinobi knew of these 5 young Konoha shinobi, having made quite a name for themselves in the war, more and more challengers were turning up, mainly to have the honor of sparing with them.

"This will take longer than expected," Kakashi drawled.

"Yeah, look like so," replied Genma, chewing on a senbon.

"Kakashi senpai, Genma san!" Yamato greeted as he walked to where his colleagues were standing. It was only now that he had managed to come at the dojo, being held by a guarding duty. Iruka was following closely, as he had been able to free himself just then.

"Yo, Yamato senpai. Iruka san," Kakashi and Genma nodded at the two.

"How is it going?" Yamato asked.

Kakashi and Genma grinned. At least, Kakashi single visible eyes closed in a half moon shape, indicating that he had a large smile underneath his mask.

"Well, our youngsters all seem very unwilling to let go of their kunoichis. They sure are quite possessive, it seems," Genma snickered.

"Yeah, it can be said that their fighting intensity here equal that of when they were fighting during the war," added Kakashi.

Genma, Yamato and Kakashi smirked, as they looked onto the 5 young men fiercely fighting, while Iruka proudly looked at his students, all of them so grown up and so ready to be in love.

**XOXOXO**

2 1/2 hours in competition….

The 5 Kunoichis, bored of just sitting by themselves, had all grouped together, as they watched, consterned, their 5 still fighting for them below. All five were wearing visible signs of wear and tear by now.

"I still can't believe Neiji is fighting for ME!" Ten-Ten whispered, awed and flushed.

"Yeah, have you seen how they are not looking towards our way at all?" Temari remarked drily.

It was true. Whenever there were the small break at the end of each 3 minutes duel, the boys would group be talking among themselves, but never any of them would look up at the girls.

"Don't you think they are taking it a bit too at heart? They could give up now instead of being so set on going on," Ino whispered, looking at Sai's bruised face, flustered and touched that the usually emotionally blank boy would go so far for HER.

There was a murmur in the crowd, as the Hokage made her way in the Dojo. Joining Kakashi and the group, she looked down at the 5 fighting men.

"They are still going on?" Tsunade was surprised. This was going on much longer than she has anticipated. She had foreseen at most a 2 hour competition. _At least the money was going to be great,_ she thought, making a quick mental calculation of the gain out from this alone, but still, this had not supposed to produce such battered outcomes for her favorite young shinobis.

"Even Hyugaa Neiji?" She wondered aloud, surprised that the usually uptight Hyugaa would participate in something as…frivolous as this.

"Yes, even the stoic Hyugaa Neiji," Kakashi laughed.

"Well, let's hope they'll still have their bones and energy left to enjoy their dates if they do win!" Tsunade remarked wryly.

The group could not help but burst out laughing.

Tsunade made her way towards the 5 kunoichis who were grouped together, all their expressions unanimously worried.

"Tsunade shishou, can't you please do something to stop this now?" Sakura asked, troubled.

Tsunade frowned, not happy at the sight herself. "Well they are stubborn not to want to give up," she replied, "And as far as there are going to be new challengers, I cannot stop the game." Looking at the downcast unhappy faces of the girls, she tried to cheer them up, "Well, one thing, if those bakas do win finally, just make sure you ladies make it their worth."

_That's some amazing varying shades of red,_ thought Tsunade, looking interestedly at the faces of the young Kunoichis, who all had blushed fierily and had scandalized expressions.

"Tsunade sama!" Shizune, who had followed the Hokage, quickly admonished, blushing as well at the innuendo.

"What? I was just suggesting that you girls be sure to dress up extra nicely or something of the sort. You all DO have a dirty mind!" Tsunade exclaimed innocently. With a chuckle, the Hokage left the group.

**XOXOXO**

3 hours 30 minutes in competition…

Hikate Ken, young and handsome, had a smile on his face as he looked down at the fighting taking place. His regal bearing and proud tilt of his head was the proof of his noble background and power. Ken was the nephew the Feudal Lord of the fire country. Apart from being from one of the highest noble family of the Fire country, Ken was also a highly esteemed lawyer, he was the legal advisor of the Feudal Lord and the government of the Fire country. His intelligence and sharpness was almost unmatched in the legal world, and held a high respected view among those who knew him.

He arrived in Konoha 3 days ago, and had been having numerous meeting with the Kages since then, proposing and negotiating treaties and co-lateral agreements. The opportunity was golden, since all the Kages were reunited under Konoha's roof at this time. During his meetings, he had been quite drawn to the young kunoichi which had from time to time accompanied the 5th Hokage, whose name, he had made sure to learn, was Haruno Sakura. Those pink hair had been the first to catch his fascination, he had never seen such unusual striking color before, and it's not as if he lacked the company of beautiful woman, being a very eligible noble bachelor till date. As he had been introduced to the young kunoichi, he had been even more drawn to the sharp intelligence which had transpired, even if the conversation he had managed to have with her had been very brief. Beautiful, strong and intelligent. Three qualities which had not failed to gain his interest.

Then, only today and quite late at that, he came to learn about this competition, and when he saw that the said girl was taking part as one of the winning, he had rushed to the Dojo. _And just about time,_ he thought, as the only duel still open was HER competition.

The assembled huge crowd had finally took pity on the young men, and about 30 minutes ago, one after the other, no challenger had come forward after a 3 minute delay for four of the Kunoichis. Thus, 4 winners had been finalized. Sai had win for Ino, Neiji for Ten-Ten, Kiba for Hinata and Shikamaru for Temari. The 4 of them were being tendered by Shizune, Sakura and Ino, broken bones and gashes healed efficiently by green chakra, and all visible surface cuts and bruises swept away by the magic balm of Hinata Hyugaa.

But Naruto was still fighting on. And his fights were getting harder. Ken, not being a shinobi himself, had taken the services of another shinobi. As soon as Naruto had defeated his rented shinobi, Ken had immediately looked for another even stronger shinobi to fight. This had immediately lead to a dispute, because this competition had supposed to be only one participation per person, but the very shrewd man had managed to get through a loophole in the rules of the game. He had argued his case and pointed out that in the rules, it has been stated that 'only one participation per shinobi was allowed", and he WAS following that rule. BUT it has not been specified that a civilian was limited to the service of ONE shinobi only, means, he had the liberty to use as many shinobi as he wished. Tsunade had been angry at this, but had to give in, because what the man said was unfortunately correct. And now, Naruto was finding himself fighting the 5th shinobi rented by Ken.

Ken smiled at the scowl in the godaime's face, her annoyance very visible. They had had a heated spat about the dispute. Since Ken was filthy rich, and he liked Sakura, he was indulging himself and buying the strongest shinobi present there; shinobi which had not participated for themselves but who were more than willing to have a go at the Hero, the Uzumaki kid.

Ken looked back at the 'Hero', having vaguely heard of him prior to his coming to Konoha. He was a more of a politics guy rather than battlefield guy, so he had not paid that much attention to Konoha's warforce in details. _There doesn't seem to be anything outstanding about the kid in appearance,_ he thought, and shrugged. _Let's see where this lead to._

Tsunade grunted to herself. _This will go for ever if they continue like this._ She HAD to put her foot down on this, and she could clearly see that Naruto was nearly at his end. This was his 40th duel since the beginning of the competition, and even though he had an almost inexhaustible chakra reserve, taking in 40 different shinobi of chunin-plus level was not a simple feat. And knowing that stubborn baka, he would NOT give up so easily.

Sakura looked at the battered and visibly exhausted Naruto. She looked up at her shishou, her eyes almost pleading her to do something. Tsunade looked sternly at Ken. In normal circumstances, she would have admired the man's tenacity, but right now, she did not like to see her most favorite ninja being punched to death. She turned to the wretched man standing beside her.

"Okay, clearly you have decided to buy all the coming duel until you win, but this can drag endlessly," she said brusquely, "That kid is known not to give up, _ever_. And there has to be a stop. So, let's put a limit of 1 more shinobi for you."

Ken promptly refused. Tsunade was livid.

After a further spat, Gaara had to intervene, and a reluctant compromise had been agreed upon. They have put a time limit until 2:00 pm to end the competition. Meaning, there was about 25 more minutes remaining for the competition to end.

**XOXOXO**

Somewhere else in the Dojo…

"Hey it would be fun to join in the challenge, don't you think? "Suigetsu exclaimed in his usual cheery way.

His companion did not move, but the sideways look that he received was enough to silence the shark teeth young man.

"Hey okay, okay cool it man. Sasuke, you are too serious about this!" The young man hastily backed away, laughing nervously.

Sasuke returned back to his intent contemplation of the duel being fought down below. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Naruto, battered and barely standing straight.

Barely 5 minutes left for the competition to end…

Sakura was a bundle of nerves. This had supposed to be a fun competition, but looking at Naruto now, all this was anything but fun. _Again that baka had taken things too far when it came to me, _she thought, despaired. She had tried to attract his attention by waving to him, but Naruto had pointedly avoided looking in her direction. Short of jumping down to the fighting square, which had been strictly forbidden by the referee anyway, there was nothing much for her to do than watch him go through duel after duel. At 5 minutes left for the end, she felt relieved now as she anxiously waited for this competition to be finally over.,

Ken, on his side, was frowning as still another of 'his' shinobi lost to that Uzumaki kid. He only had one last go, and he had to act FAST if he want any chance of winning this. Ken was not used to losing, and he really wanted to win this challenge. He looked at the tall massively muscular man standing not far from him, and coming to a decision, made his way towards him.

"Would you care to fight for me?" There was no time for tiptoe around his query, so he jumped straight to business.

The said man looked at him, before bursting into a loud laugh. "You are thinking of buying _my_ service? That will cost you extremely high, you know that!"

"Well, what about that treaty that you so wanted so badly to be signed by my government?" Ken replied silkily.

White bushy eyebrows went up, amazement evident on the big man's face. "You are THAT keen in the girl?"

"Hmm, well it's mostly the case that I like challenges and I like to win," came the casual reply from Ken.

"To the point that you accept to sign the treaty?" The man asked incredulously.

Ken hid a smirk. He did not need to tell the man that the treaty had already been agreed upon by his government, though the furious negotiations they had been fighting on the past days may have given the opposite impression. He just knew when to use opportunities to his advantage. _That was what made me a genius in politics, after all,_ thought Ken, smugly.

"So...do you accept to lend me your services?" He asked the man again, a bit impatiently. Time was running out, they did not have time to banter like that.

The said man gave a howl of laughter. "Okay, why not. I want to have some fun, too. I have yet to fight Naruto," he said geelfully.

With that, the huge man, after nodding to the shinobi surrounding him, made his way towards the stand below. At the announcement of who was going to be the last challenger representing Ken, the crowd gasped.

"Uh oh…"muttered Kakashi.

"What?" Shikamaru looked, aghast.

_No no no!_ Sakura eyes widened in horror, as she saw who the final challenger was going to be. Sheer power oozed from the bulky packed muscles; everybody who know the man knew what a single power punch could do. He did not even need any upper class ninjutsu, his bare knuckles were enough to knock out any man. One punch from those fists, and the actually weathered and exhausted Naruto would have it. Sakura even winced when imagining what those fists could do to Naruto in his actual state. No bones would stand intact faced with a punch from him. Not being able retain herself, she jumped down and ran towards Naruto, ignoring the referee, who anyway, was looking as aghast as most of the people present.

"Naruto, it's time to stop now. You have gone far enough, let it go now, please!" She urged as she came near enough for Naruto to hear her.

The referee, coming out from his trance, immediately warned Sakura to leave, ushering her away.

"Naruto! Don't do it! It's only a date, it does not warrant you going this far!" She insisted frantically, but he only looked back at her tonelessly.

"Sakura chan…it's the last duel, I can do it," he replied slowly.

"Naruto, stop it now!" She almost screamed. "Don't be so stubborn!"

The referee warned her again, as the challenger got into the square.

"Haruno-san!" The new challenger greeted, as he smiled at the famous pink haired medic nin, who has cured him and his people from more wounds than he could count during the war.

"Raikage-sama," greeted back Sakura, as she bowed towards the Raikage of Kumo. Giving Naruto a last desperate, pleading look, she had no choice but to leave the fighting square.

Naruto looked at Sakura, noting her almost angry eyes. He looked up at the Legal Advisor, who, he had learnt, was the nephew of the Feudal Lord, who had been sending shinobi after shinobi in the expectation of winning a date with Sakura. He was about 20ish, very handsome, _and must be filthy rich to be able to afford so many shinobi services for just a game,_ he thought. He looked at Sakura again.

_Maybe she prefers that guy to win the challenge,_ he couldn't help thinking. _Maybe it would be better for her._ The guy looked impressive, while he was only Naruto, and his Sakura chan deserve much better, she deserved the best. He then looked at his last opponent. The Raikage. The Legal Advisor was willing to go as far as to recruit the Raikage.

From his position on the platform, Sasuke has been closely observing the interaction between Sakura and Naruto. Of course he could not hear anything from the distance, but Sakura's body language and hand movements had been clear enough, she had been trying to get Naruto to give up. And Sasuke sharp eyes did not miss Naruto's reaction as he saw the blond looked up at the Legal Advisor and Sakura. The usually butt headed ninja, the one who always yelled about his motto about not giving up, right then looked defeated about ready to give up. Sasuke had a good idea what the Dobe was thinking right then.

_Tchhh…_he thought. _That dobe._ He moved back from the rails, away in the shadows.

The Raikage looked at Naruto, grinning gleefully. "Fun game, huh?" he said.

"Yeah, that it is," Naruto replied. He was still perturbed. Sakura could get a dream date with the noble guy. Maybe he should yield for this duel.

"Finally got my opportunity to fight with the great Uzumaki!" the Raikage exclaimed excitedly.

The crowd watched, awed, as the Raikage and the Konoha hero started the fight. Everybody was keenly aware that Naruto was at a huge disadvantage here, being already so worn out. His body moving more out of instinct, Naruto evaded the power punches that the Raikage was throwing at him, one after the other. He was still undecided what to do, and he was not going on the offensive, his body almost blindly following his mind as he got more in a defensive mode, moving at high speed that most could not follow, making that none of the Raikage's punches was reaching target. Naruto was aware that the first punch that would land of him would most probabely end this match. His drained body was groaning in protest, as he again evaded another coming punch, and he conceded that he will have to do something, otherwise this match will get to a draw, and they will have to make a rematch. Taking his decision, he slowed down. He saw a fist coming right in his face. Time seemed to go in slow motion, as he watched the fist, packed with power, coming towards his face.

_That's it,_ he thought, _I'll let myself get defeated, then Sakura-chan can have a great, better date._

He waited for the punch to connect. He felt a rush of air past his face, and a slight graze on his left cheek.

He eyes jerked wide open. His surprise was equally mirrored in the Raikage's widely opened eyes.

_The punch…missed him?_ he thought, dazed. But he was sure that it was coming directly in his face! And he _had not _moved to evade it. The Raikage, under the shock of having missed Naruto and his massive forward momentum uncontrolled, stumbled.

Moving almost out of reflex, Naruto spinned on his left foot, and crashed his right foot with all his force on the side of the Raikage's jaw, causing a crack to be heard. Then taking the contact point as pivot, spun in the air and landed another powerful kick on the man's head. The Raikage was brought down to his knees, ending the match.

A shocked silence followed; the referee announced Naruto as the final winner, then the crowd roared.

Deafened by the noise, Naruto stood unsteadily on his feet, stunned. _I won?_ he thought with disbelief. He watched hazily as his friends rushed to him, laughing and cheering, and he automatically responded with a grin. Then he felt his mind go blank, and felt the ground rushing up to meet him. Sakura landed beside him just on time to catch hold of him before his head crashed on the floor, as Naruto fell, unconscious, finally giving in to the severe chakra depletion and exhaustion.

"Baka!" Sakura whispered, fighting back the tears that was threatening to squeeze out of her eyes, as she tenderly zoomed her healing chakra over his numerous injuries.

Tsunade eyes were scrunched, eyebrow almost crossed together with a puzzled expression. The fight between the Naruto and the Raikage had mostly been with moves at extreme high speed, the blows and kicks barely discernable by the mere people, but _she _had seen most of the details. She could not believe that the Raikage's punch had missed. His fist had been coming straight into Naruto's face. She quickly looked at Kakashi. She found him looking towards a far corner of the room, where she could see somebody in the shadow. Realization dawned in her eyes.

"That should be considered as cheating, and a major rule broken, using your sharingan for a genjutsu like that, but I'll let it go for this time. That Baka really needed to be pushed." Sasuke almost jumped out of his skin at the words whispered in his ears.

_When has she moved to my side?_ He thought, looking dazedly at the back of the already moving Godaime Hokage.

**XOXOXO**

5 minutes later…

The 5 winners were being congratulated by the Hokage. "We have raised much more than expected with this competition, I thank you all very much. Now, enjoy your evening, and see you all at the ball." Then, as an afterthought, added, "and don't forget, as the winners you will be the one to open the ball dance." With that, she disappeared.

"D-dance?" stuttered Kiba.

"Open the dance?" Naruto echoed. He had regain consciousness just in time to listen to Tsunade congratulations speech. Sakura had already moved off, and was now seeing at the Raikage's broken jaw.

"She never said anything about the winners opening the dance before!" Neiji said, a frown marring his eyebrow.

"This is so troublesome!" Shikamaru muttered, horrified at the mere idea of…dancing.

"Dancing? As in…dancing?" Naruto wanted to lose consciousness again.

15 minutes later….

After ensuring all injuries and bones had been properly and duly repaired, the girls had decided to leave already; they had a lot to do, and needed to have enough time to get ready for the evening.

"See you later, then Sakura chan," Naruto said almost shyly. They had barely exchanged any words, and he was nervous about her possible reaction. But she smiled back, eyes devoid any disappointment, as he had been so fearing.

"Be on time!" was all she said, before she left with the others. He watched her go, feeling a bit relieved that she had not looked or sounded angry.

Then, coming back to their current problem, "I have no freaking idea about dancing!" Naruto wailed. For sure he was going to disappoint Sakura chan. He could not imagine how he would cope. But all the others seemed to be having the same problem as him.

Furthermore, the others had made him aware that he needed to wear a formal attire. He has never owned any tux or formal attire in his life! The only formal thing he had was a black kimono, which he usually wore during funerals!

"Neiji, at least you must be able to dance? Being from a noble family?" He told the young Hyuuga almost accusingly.

Neiji looked at Naruto stoically. "Naruto, why should the Hyugaa _dance_?"

"Well, when you do your jutsu of Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin, it looks as if you are dancing!" Naruto retorted. "And at least I'm sure you guys owe tuxedos!" He finished, morose.

Neiji sighed and decided better not to reply to that.

Naruto was gloomily considering his situation. There was barely 4 hours left before he was due to pick Sakura for their date, and about further 2 hours later he was supposed to open the dance of a ball. He did not have a tux, nor did he had a single clue about how to dance. The only dancing steps he knew was the steps he had practiced with Gamatatsu for their water/wind combination technique jutsu, and he was pretty sure that it was not _that_ type of dance steps that was expected of them for opening a ball. He dejectedly banged his head against the wall on which he was leaning.

Kakashi suddenly appeared, flanked by Yamato and Genma. "Yo. Guys. The godaime has appointed us for a mission. We are to assist you for your coming ball opening duty."

5 faces, glum mixed with frowned inquisition, looked up at him. Well, at least of them had the expressions, Sai face being something as close to having a "query" as possible.

Kakashi gave a sigh. "What I mean is, we will get someone to give you guys a crash course in dancing for the opening of the ball dance."

"We are to learn how to dance NOW? In such a short span? "Shikamaru exclaimed, incredulous. He was sure he could master any new jutsu than master any acceptable _dancing steps_, more so in such a short time notice.

"Why do we have to dance at all?" Neiji asked, as if dancing equaled to striping.

"Good diplomatic relations and proper etiquette, Neiji," Yamato patiently set to explain. "We ARE the host of this celebration ball, gathering all the 5 nations under one roof. So, it sort of fall upon us, as hosts, to open the ball."

"Yeah, and Baa-chaan conveniently sends US as spate goat," Naruto mumbled.

"Come on guys, it's not as bad as you think!" Yamato said coaxingly, "You are ninja, after all, such types of physical activity will be much easier than you think. Follow me."

"Naruto, before you go, I need 1 of your clone," Kakashi said, "So, can you please produce one to accompany me?" At Naruto's questioning look, the silver haired Jounin explained, "I have some business with you, or in this case, your kage bunshin will do."

"Business? What for?" Naruto asked, curiously.

"Well, the Hokage wants you to have a proper formal attire for the evening. She said to put it on the house, as a reward for your performance in the competition," Kakashi replied.

_Yaye!_ Naruto was exuberant, and grateful that Tsunade had guessed that he did not own any formal attire. _I must thank her later,_ he thought, producing 2 kage bunshins, just in case, to follow Kakashi on a shopping spree…Then he and the others followed Yamato. Chouzi, Lee and Shino followed them as well, not wanting to be left out of this special training that the others were getting.

Gaaraa, who had been standing by, upon the insistence of Naruto, decided to follow the group too, partly curious about seeing how to dance and partly in the hope to get some pointers, as he was sure it will be expected of him, at some point, to dance, being the Kazekage. On their way, Chouji gave the five winners an energy pill each, the famous Amakachi energy pill, which all of them gratefully accepted, seeing that they had a LONG afternoon and evening ahead of them.

**XOXOXO**

About 10 minutes later, in a small dojo found in another part of Konoha…

"Okay, dancing is not such a difficult task," Kyoko, a middle aged Kunoichi from the Wind village, announced to the small assembled group. She was here on the bequest of the Hokage, being a long time acquaintance with Tsunade. They had known each other from far back, and it was with pleasure that she had agreed to help the Hokage in this delightful mission. Her companion, Kira, was willing to help as well. Both of them loved music and dancing, it was a pleasure for them to share the passion in this area with others.

She eyed the bunch of young men standing in front of her, noting their almost varying horrified expressions, saved for two of them. A green clad young man, and the Uzumaki hero, who seemed to be eager enough to undertake the lesson in store. Two of them seemed almost detachedly blank, the Hyugaa, which she recognized from the grey blank eye, and the young Kazekage, who she was surprised was here anyway. Giving a cheerfully encouraging clap, she continued.

"You are ninjas, so you already have a perfect sense of balance and fluidity of movements, a good sense of discerning sound and moving on cue…So, just tune your sense to the music, and follow the beat, and move accordingly." She was rewarded by blank stares.

"You will get what I'm trying to say. Okay, all of you pair up in two, one will have to be the 'male' and one the 'female'," she instructed.

2 minutes later…

Exasperated, Kyoko and his companion looked at the mass of squabbling young men in front of them. Nobody wanted to pretend to be the 'female'. She did not want to give so easily, but she was out of ideas.

"What do we do now?" She whispered to Kira, who was looking as nonplussed as her.

Yamato, who had been standing in the sideline watching, heard them and came forward. He proposed a great idea, and barely one minute later, the time for a jutsu and some poofs, the room was filled with a dozens of female Naruto bunshins; fully clothed on Yamato's warning to Naruto. As usual, Yamato was still amazed at the sheer number of them all. Kyoko and Kira looked, jaw hanging open, then quickly catching their senses, got to work again.

2 hours later…

After a lot of grumbling, trodden toes, huge lot of more squabbling, stiff shoulders, cricked neck, Kyoko was quite happy with the final results. _They carry the will fire to the hilt,_ she thought. She clapped for their attention.

"Okay, you are by no means experts, but you have all done very well," she said, smiling proudly at them. "Congratulations to all of you! You'll do us proud this evening!"

With that, the training session ended. The group dispersed, each going their way, each finally looking forward to the evening, feeling the 'dancing' duty not to be so undoable, after all.

Naruto sped away, he had to talk to somebody before going home to get ready. Finally catching sight of Sasuke, he jumped by the side of the boy, who looked unsurprised by this sudden apparition.

"Teme! I've been looking for you."

"Hn." Sasuke had been waiting for him.

"I won the duel for Sakura."

"Hn."

"You don't look surprised. So, it meant, you came to the competition?"

"Hn."

A short silence followed, Naruto visibly fidgeting."Sasuke…"

"Dobe," came the warning growl, as Sasuke eyes slashed at the blond, a visible warning in them, "Don't go into THAT again" he said in a low voice.

Naruto looked at him, "How…?"

"Obviously you will go into the me and Sakura crap. Just – don't. I don't want to hear anything more about this anymore," Sasuke said quietly.

_That was surely a very long speech for the Uchiha boy. _Naruto got silent as they resumed walking. "Hey, you will come to the ball, right?" he asked suddenly.

"No."

"Don't make me ask Baa-chan to put up a formal summoning for you to attend!" The blond warned. At the glare he received, he insisted, "You know I'll do it. You _have_ to come. This is a celebration for our victory; victory in which you had a major participation. Come for Konoha. For me."

Sasuke gave a huge sigh. After a minute of silence, asked, "So, where do you intend to go for dinner?"

Naruto was surprised at the queer change of subject, surprised that Sasuke would be interested to know something as that. He scratched the back of his head, then slumped his head down. He remembered that his options about where to eat was extremely low. But he refused to consider Ichiraku as an option. Not for today. Not for Sakura chan. He has to think of something fast, though.

"You had to re-buy 3 tickets to due 3 stalemates." It was a statement, not a question.

Naruto looked sideways at Sasuke. "Yeah." He sighed, glum. Due to that, his already meager purse was depleted of an additional 300 ryous, making a huge dent in his what would have been date budget.

"Hn."

Naruto felt a nudge at his side. Looking down, he saw an envelop being poked in his side. He looked up to the Uchiha boy, puzzled. "What?"

"It's 2 meal tickets to Daikon's."

"Huh?" Naruto abruptly stopped walking, pointing at the envelope as if it was a bomb tag. Daikon's was among the best restaurant of Konoha, situated in the posh area. He gaped at Sasuke.

"Close your mouth before a fly gets in, dobe. Take it as an advance birthday gift."

The envelope was shoved in Naruto's hand. Before Naruto could come out of his astonishment, Sasuke had disappeared, hopping up on the roofs.

"Thank you Teme!" Naruto yelled. Some of the villages looked around, outraged. Others just grinned affectionately and continued their way, used to the most unpredictable ninja of Konoha.

**XOXOXO**

At 6.00 pm

_I hope he is not late,_ thought Sakura, taking a final anxious look at her floor length mirror. She had taken 2 whole hours to get ready, which included a long soak in a her bath, a treat that she very rarely has time to indulge into. She hoped that Naruto would like what he saw. Smoothing her hands nervously over her dress, she gave a shaky sigh and decided that it was better she go down in the leaving room, for staring at herself any longer was not helping to soothe her jittery nerves or her wavering confidence. As she carefully made her way down, she wondered where they would go for dinner. She hoped it would not be Ichiraku. But she would understand if it was Ichiraku, because seeing that Naruto has had to buy 4 participating tickets in total, he must be low on funds by now. She could propose to buy their dinner, she supposed. Oh well, she would see with him, how things went, as she did not want to step out of line.

10 minutes later…

Sakura almost jumped at the knock at the door.

_Finally!_ she thought, feeling a tingle of anticipation. But first, she would be sure to give him a piece of her mind, that baka, for being late by 10 minutes. She yanked the door opened, scolding words ready on her lips…and stood there, the words stuck in her throat, as she gaped at the transformed Naruto adorning her doorframe.

Naruto looked at girl standing in front of him, and instantly felt his brain froze. His eyes widened, and felt as if he had received a punch in the gut, as his incredulous eyes looked the startling image he faced. His eyes started at the lustrous pink hair which has been gathered at the top of her head in a messy updo, secured by 2 silver senbons and from which some rebellious pink tendrils cascaded down to delicately frame her face; her green eyes encased in some smokey colored shadows and which gave her a mysterious look; her lips which looked temptingly lush in red lipstick; her neck, which, being freed from her usual hair style, looked swan like, and was circled by silver antique looking necklace; her strong yet delicate looking shoulders bared, except for the thin straps which hold her dress, a dreamy creation made from a cloud grey colored gossamer voile fabric, flowing down her body, gently molding all her curves to flare from below the hips and fall into graceful folds at her ankles. Some dark silver beads and diamantes had been randomly sewn all over the dress, which shined and glittered at the tiniest moves. And to complete the image, red polished nailed peaked out from her high heels silver shoes.

Tried as he might, Naruto could not tear his eyes away from her. He felt a heat creeping up his cheeks, and his brain dimly thought that this gorgeous girl was going to be HIS date for the night. His second immediate thought was if he didn't stop ogling at her, urgently, she would definitely punch the lights out of him. But, heck, he would not mind if she punched him, because he did not have that mindpower to stop himself from looking at her. He was a mere human being, after all, a mere boy, who had, standing in front of him, looking like a goddess, the girl of his dreams, the girl for whom his heart had always fluttered, the girl for whom he had worked hard to get stronger, the girl for whom he would go even beyond his limits.

"S-Sakura chan…" he finally stammered. Looking into her face, he saw that her cheeks were red. _She must be furious and her punch will come any second now,_ he thought, cringing already.

"Naruto…"The timid voice startled him. Looking closer at her, he did not see any angry vein ticking out, meaning that she did not intend to punch him. So, it means that she was _blushing_!

"Sakura chan, you are so beautiful," he ventured, voice croaking but smiling.

Her laugh was sort of shy as she looked up in his eyes. "You look good too, Naruto."

Wordlessly, he swept a bouquet in her hands, dozens of yellow roses prettily encased in cellophane paper. He hoped that she liked them, Ino's mum had assured him that they was best suited for the occasion.

"Oh!" She looked at the flowers, surprised and delighted. "They are beautiful, thank you Naruto," She said, inhaling the sweet scent.

"Not as beautiful as you, Sakura chan," Naruto replied earnestly, not being able to stop himself.

She blushed again. He could easily why the Ken guy had gone to such length to get a date with this beautiful girl. Heck, if HE had been rich, he as well would gladly throw away all his pennies to be able to get a date with her.

"Sakura, is that Naruto?" A second later, Mrs Haruno appeared besides Sakura at the door.

"My my, Naruto," the older Haruno gasped, her hands flying to her mouth as she watched the young blond, "Aren't you looking handsome!"

Naruto gave an embarassed chuckle, scratching the back of his head. "Thank you Haruno-san, Kakashi sensei had helped in choosing the suit."

As Sakura's mom ushered him inside, Sakura again looked at her teammate, taking in his appearance one more time. He was wearing a suit set in a fabric of charcoal color with fine silver grey stripes, and a silver grey shirt inside. The suit line hugged his slight V-shaped form to perfection, 2 buttons holding the coat together at his waist. The shirt had a wide collar, with the top button opened, showing his neck and the beginning of his chest where his crystal pendant of his necklace could be seen. His shirt was not tucked in his trousers, leaving the shirt hanging to his hips. His trousers were slim fitted, ending with a very slight fare to accommodate his shining black shoes. The overall result was that of casual yet classy elegance, a look which fitted Naruto to perfection, giving him a refined and relaxed look with a touch of devil may care attitude. His hair shone and fell a bit over his face as there was no Hitai ate top hold them back. _He sure looks hot,_ she thought, feeling shiver running down her spine.

"Oh, your colors match so well!" exclaimed Mrs Haruno, and Sakura realized that her mother was right, as she surveyed Naruto's shirt. His shirt was almost exactly the same color as her dress. Naruto was surprised as well, and upon discussion they realized that they've bought their outfit at the same store.

Naruto grinned. "Now I understand why the lady was so insistent that I take _this_ set! I told her that you were my date for the evening, and even though the shirt did not fit correctly, she insisted to retouch it and then had it delivered to my apartment later," he explained.

They were still chit-chatting when Mr Haruno made his appearance. Naruto immediately bowed, and politely put his hand forward for a handshake.

"Good evening, Haruno-san!" He could barely hide the nervousness out of his voice, as Mr Haruno surveyed him with solemn eyes as they shook hands. It was the first time that Naruto had come to Sakura's home, and the first time that he as meeting her father in such an official way.

Seeing his obvious nervousness, Mr Haruno serious face broke into a smile. "You look good enough for my little princess here," he said, happy that it was Naruto who had win the competition and not anybody else. He had heard about the way the guy had held on for four hours. _Nothing else for my precious princess,_ he thought.

"Dad!" Sakura protested, glaring at him.

Mrs Haruno laughed, as Naruto's face tinged with red.

"Okay, let's take a picture of you before you set out," said Mr Haruno, producing a camera.

Even with her high heals, Sakura still could only reached up to Naruto ear level, as they stood side by side, posing for the camera, until Mr Haruno felt satisfied and clicked away. Then they set off, out for their evening.

**XOXOXO**

A little bit later…

"Wow, how have you managed to get a seat here?" Sakura asked, impressed, as she was seated in her chair in the luxurious restaurant of Daikon's.

"Well…"Naruto debated whether to tell her the truth, then he decided to be honest with her. "It's my advance birthday gift from Sasuke," he finally said, giving a nervous grin.

"Oh really? Well, that's nice of him!" To Naruto's close observation, she did not feel affected, and moved onto another topic easily. He felt relieved. He did not know why telling her that had made him nervous. He was brought out of thoughts by the giggle of Sakura.

"You sure are attracting much female attention, Naruto"

"Same for you, Sakura Chan". He had noted how all the males' eyes in the room had followed her when they had entered the restaurant. The simple cut of her dress enhanced her svelte frame, and without being revealing, the dress was subtly sexy, showing off her curves in the right way.

There was a soft music playing and a discreet hum of conversation in the background; each table had a pretty centerpiece with some candles lit, and the overall effect was very romantic. It was definitely not a setting that Naruto was used to, and it made him slightly nervous. To top it, with the fabulous girl of his dream sitting right across him, he felt quite out of his waters.

The waiter came for their order, and looking at the menu, Naruto felt blank. It took him quite a while to chose what he wanted to eat, but the waiter was politely patient, not rushing him. As he went away, their orders noted, Naruto started fiddling with his napkin.

"Naruto, you-"

Jumping at Sakura's voice, his hand clumsily knocked at the candle. To his horror, he saw the flame get to the tablecloth, which started to blacken as a small fire started. Reacting quickly, Sakura tipped the glass of water, from which she had been sipping, onto the flame, stopping the propagation of the fire immediately. They sat there, stunned at what might have happened. Naruto felt mortified at his clumsiness. Then Sakura started to chuckle. Soon, she was giggling merrily.

"Naruto, trust you to do something unexpected!" She said, grinning at him. Naruto at her, surprised that she was not angry with his clumsiness.

"I'm sorry, Sakura chan. I'm so nervous," he admitted.

"Please don't be, Naruto. We are here to have fun, so let's enjoy ourselves!" She smiled teasingly at him. "After all, you have worked _really_ hard for this!" Naruto felt a blush creeping up his cheeks.

That settled the tone of the evening, as Naruto finally relaxed, and soon his happy grin was back in his face. The waiter quickly arrived at their table, and they were moved to another table. Naruto requested the waiter to remove the candle.

"Just in case," he said, grinning at Sakura.

The food was excellent, and the conversation flowed as they talked and teased each other.

**XOXOXO**

1 and half hour later…

"That was great!" Naruto sighed happily, as they walked away from the restaurant. Sakura agreed with him.

They had half an hour to get to the ball, so they were in no rush, as it was not so far away from their location.

They slowly made their towards the high grounds of Konoha, to one of the training grounds, where the ball was being held, taking their time, enjoying the starry night and doing light conversations.

Since it was summer, the ball was being held in open air, at the same time being able to cater for the huge crowd that was attending the ball. As Naruto and Sakura approached the grounds, they were met with the loud sound of music drifting in the air and the rumble of a big crowd. They saw a huge raised platform made of solid polished wood, taking up the almost the whole size of the training ground.

_Wow, that must be Yamato taicho's wood jutsu!_ Sakura thought, awed at the sheer size of the thing. The floor was held about 2 meters above ground by huge pillars, with numerous staircases led the way up to the floor. The whole platform was encased in a wooden balustrade, which had been decorated with flowers arrangements and lighting globes. Round tables and chairs had been placed all around the edge of the huge area, and the total resulted outlook was a stunningly classy.

They made their way up one of the staircase, and were amazed at the décor and ambiance. People, dressed in the best finery, was milling around, many of the tables already occupied by groups, as others were just leaning against the balustrade and chatting. There must have been about 1000 people up there. Most of the shinobi were present; only a very sparse few had not made it, due to guard duty, even though Tsunade had put up the dome shield force around Konoha so that she could minimize the active guard duty needed for this special night.

All the kages as well were present, dressed in their formal robes.

As they looked around, they spotted Kakashi, looking barely recognizable in his black tux and white shirt, though his mask was as usual in place. As they made their way across to Kakashi, they attracted many attentions, both being impressive in their attires.

They saw Ken, and the expression on the young legal advisor was priceless, as he watched Sakura over. Naruto could not help bristling as he saw him eyeing Sakura up and down. They had to go by him to reach Kakashi, and as they reached his level, Ken smiled and greeted them.

"Sakura san, you looked ravishing," he murmured.

Naruto gave him a curt nod, and both males locked eyes for a full minute. A silent challenge followed by a subtle warning from Naruto transpiring through the hard stare they shared. Ken's eyes flickered with a reluctant respect. He was smart enough to see when a claim had been staked, and this Konoha hero had just wordlessly staked his claim over the beautiful Haruno Sakura. Sakura, even though totally unaware of the silent eye battle had occurred between the two men, sensed the tension. She quickly smiled and politely wished Ken a good evening, and took their leave, moving on towards Kakashi.

Gradually, all their friends came up to meet them. They all grouped together, each one exclaiming at the other's appearance and chattering about each of their dates. They all looked really good, the boys donning their tux and the girls' floor length ball gowns.

Naruto looked around, trying to spot Sasuke in the crowd and not finding the dark haired boy anywhere. He hoped that the Teme had not backed off his agreement to come. His attention was brought back by the voice of Tsunade, who took the microphone to attract the attention of everybody.

"Ok, I won't take too long," she announced, "I'll just take the opportunity to say that hail to peace…And hooray to all our shinobi, who are all heroes today. Now, the winners of the duels competition will open the ball."

With a loud applause, the room cleared away from the center, spotlights illuminating the floor.

Sakura was nervous, her hands clammy. She could sense Naruto's nervousness too by her side. She wondered how Naruto will fare. She was by no means an expert in dancing, but in their earlier days at the academy, a little dancing class had been included among other lessons scheduled for kunoichis, so the girls did have a little sense of music. She shrugged mentally. She just hoped that she would NOT have mangled toes by the end of the dance, and she was determined to have a good time. They all deserved a good time.

The 5 young couples nervously made their way on the cleared area, and more applause and cheers, mingled with loud whistles followed. Many in the on-watching crowd could not help a smirk as they saw the deep blushing of the couples, as they stood face to face, the men's left hands hesitantly placed on their dates' waists, right hands grabbing left hands. Then, loud music blasted through the air, the opening dance being a classical valse number. The first few steps were awkward, but shortly, confidence grew, and the males' fluidity of movements grew. Soon after, everybody watched, awed, as the couples floated gracefully in tune with the music.

Sakura was amazed as Naruto firmly guided her across the floor, moving as if he had been doing this everyday in his life. "Since when do you dance, and so well on top of it?" She asked, looking up at the ocean blue eyes.

"Since this afternoon," Naruto replied, grinning at her incredulous look. "We had a crash course in dancing, courtesy of two friends of Tsunade Baa chan," he explained.

Sakura looked around, and true enough, she could see all her friends dancing with ease. Looking back at Naruto, she chuckled, "You guys must have given it your all, if a short crash course has made you all this good."

"Yeah, the will of fire, you know?" Naruto's tone was smug.

She laughed while he told her about their evening and their mishaps. As Sakura listened, she could help thinking how physically close they were, body almost touching. It was the closest that they had ever been, except for the two only times when she had hugged him in the past. She could feel each of his fingers as his hand was splayed at her back, and the warmth of his right hand as he held her own hand in a gentle yet firm grasp. She could even spot the tiny navy specs in the ocean blue irises of his eyes as he looked down at her, noting at the same time how deep his eyes were.

"Sakura?" His low tone snapped her out of her contemplation, making her aware that Naruto had stopped talking and was looking at her, eyes soft and inquisitive.

"Err sorry," was all she could managed shakily, breaking the gaze and bending her head, blushing furiously as she realized that she had been staring at him.

Subtly, Naruto drew her closer, and Sakura felt her tremor running through her as her nose came to the level of his neck. She took a deep breath, inhaling his scent at the same time. He was not wearing any perfume, but his own natural smell was pleasant, earthy, musky and so male. She felt as if she was floating, as they swayed gently to the lovely music drifting around them. Soon, the music came to stop, and they broke apart as a loud applause again broke around them. Sakura avoided looking directly at Naruto, as she smiled along with everybody. She felt shaken and did not know how to act.

Thankfully, music came to her rescue again, as the following number was a rapid item, and others started to join in the dance. The Kages joined in first, Tsunade being lead by the Raikage. Gaaraa, at the discreet push from Kankuro (because Kankuro had promised Temari that he would do so, and everybody knows that if they wish for their safety they better do what Temari ask) stepped in front of Yuki, a jounin from Temari's squad, and lead the red faced girl on the floor, and soon many more others followed. The mood was festive, as people swayed and dance. Naruto and Sakura moved towards their friends, as they all danced, the happy mood being contagious.

After several dances and breathing hard with the exertion, Naruto and Sakura decided to take a small break. As they made their way to the edge of the room, Naruto suddenly stopped.

"Hey wait, I think I've spotted Sasuke!" dragging Sakura along, he quickly made his way towards the spot where he had briefly caught a glimpse of the Uchiha.

As they approached the boy, they saw that he was accompanied by beautiful brunette. Planting his feet in front of him, Naruto eyed Sasuke. "So you came. You look good," he stated, eyeing the black tux and white shirt of his friend.

"Naruto!" Sakura could not help laughing at Sasuke's visible discomfort. "Hello Sasuke, glad to see you here!"

Sasuke introduced the girl as Akemi. Amidst the loud noise and upon close interrogation from Naruto, they managed to learn that Akemi was a civilian, and had been introduced to Sasuke some days earlier by common family friends. Naruto could not help but glance surresptiously at Sakura, worried that she might be feeling hurt by this. But she did not look affected and was chatting with Akemi easily.

"Okay, well, lets get back to dance now!" With that, Naruto proceeded to drag Sasuke towards the others, a taken aback but amused Akemi and Sakura closely following behind. Not wanting to make a scene, Sasuke had no choice but to follow, though he was visibly seething.

Reaching their friends, Naruto introduced Akemi to the others, who, though guarded at first, soon warmed up to the shy but smiling girl. Then they all started to dance again.

Sasuke, though, stood rigid as a statue, not moving an inch.

"Hey Teme, you are supposed to dance, you know, not stand here like a statue," Naruto taunted.

Sasuke sent him a death stare. "Dobe" he growled in a low voice.

A dancy item was being given, Daddy Dj by Modjo, and having practiced to that song earlier that day, Naruto was enthusiastic and nudged Sasuke, forcing him to move. "Come on, move, Teme!" Naruto urged, pointedly ignoring the icy stare of the Uchiha. Catching on, the others laughed and circled the two, as they all danced, even Akemi was urging Sasuke to move.

The cheering and encouragement of the friends was too touching, the music was too good to resist, and the enthusiasm Naruto was putting in his dance was too contagious, the happy air of the party finally getting to him, the soon the stiff Uchiha could not prevent a slight move to the beat, a small twitch at the side of his mouth.

A growing crowd surrounded the two most famous friends; more and more approached to watch the Uchiha and the Uzumaki dance, as the music flowed and washed away the pains, the distance, the long hardships that they have had to go through before finally finding each other again.

Sakura felt her throat tighten with happiness as she watched _her_ boys dancing. Sensing her emotions, Sasuke and Naruto dragged Sakura in the circle with them. Soon, Kakashi was as well dragged in, and the legendary team 7, finally reunited, danced to the music.

**XOXOXO**

At 1.00 am, in the wee morning hours…

Naruto was happy. It has been a great night, a night he was sure to remember always. He looked at his pink haired companion. She looked so dainty, with his coat around her shoulders. The early morning breeze had been a tad chilly, and as she had shivered when they had finally set out from the party, he had not been able to resist the old gallant act: that of shedding his warm suit to delicately drop it around her almost bare shoulders. Now, they were walking towards her house, the comfortable silence broken now and then by some bribes of conversation. _It was so easy to be with her,_ he thought, enjoying how his heart fluttered at her every smile and laughs. His own happy smile seemed glued to his face. He felt tipsy by her mere presence, there in that wonderful night where he had won a date with her.

"It's such a beautiful night," she said, glancing up the twinkling stars.

"Yeah, a beautiful night," replied Naruto, looking at her.

Soon, much too soon for him, they arrived at her door. He turned to face her. _So, that was it,_ he thought. He was sad the night was over, but he was happy as well to have had this night for him to cherish for the years to come.

"Ok," he started, intending to say the usual goodbye stuff, but Sakura cut him short.

"Come in for a cup of tea"

"…"

He was taken short by the offer. For one second, he thought he misheard, then looking at her expectant face, he felt his smile getting larger, if that was even possible. Any extension of this night was wonderful for him, and a hot cup of tea sounded great. _But won't her parents…? _unconsciously he was looking at the windows of her house.

Correctly interpreting his unsure look, Sakura lightly punched him in the arm. "Come on, my parents won't eat you," she laughed up at him, "It's just a cup of tea!"

He laughed with her, quickly agreeing. Looking for her keys in her handbag, Sakura opened the door and lead him inside. As soon as the door clicked shut, a sleepy voice rang out from the back of the house, making Naruto jumped in nervousness.

"Sakura, is that you?" came out Mrs Haruno's voice.

"Yes mom, Naruto and I will have a cup of tea before he leaves," Sakura called out back.

"Okay dear, good night and don't forget to properly lock the door," came the faint sleepy reply.

Sakura removed Naruto's coat from her shoulders before carefully depositing it on the couch, then lead the way towards the kitchen. Naruto looked around interestedly, being the first time he was so deep inside the Haruno's house. He immediately liked the cozy atmosphere of the kicthen. With a hop, he seated himself on the counter, watching Sakura as she started to gather the necessary items for the tea. She was standing opposite to where he was, her back towards him.

"Your parents must have been waiting for your return," he remarked.

"Yeah, it seems so," she laughed.

He found his gaze being drawn at her back, specifically at the alluring long zipper which ran from the top of back neckline down to the top of her hips of her dress. _A simple tug down and_…

He immediately shook his head, chasing away the naughty thoughts, and he felt his cheeks warming.

"So, Sakura chan...did you like our date?" He asked quickly, partly to pin down his wandering imagination and partly because he really wanted to know. He really hoped that she had liked this date, just as he had.

Sakura paused in her actions, turning her head to look at him quizzically. She did not reply straight away, which made him suddenly wary. Finally, quietly, "Why that question..? Do you have a doubt whether I did?" she asked, her eyes were watchful, her tone guarded.

"Well…" Naruto squirmed under her scrutiny, "Umm…well, I don't know, just wanted to know..." he said uncertainly.

"Why?"

"Why?" He could only repeat.

"Yeah, why do doubt whether I have enjoyed this date?" She questioned, a hint of taunting in her voice.

Naruto, feeling sort of cornered, cleared his suddenly tight throat, "Well, err, maybe you would have wanted it to be with someone else rather than me?" he stated nervously. Her eyebrow shot up questioningly at that. "Umm, like, Sasuke?" He continued.

He saw her stiffening. He felt his heart sink; he did not want to end this wonderful night by any uncomfortable vibes. He frantically tried to find a way to remedy the situation. "I m-mean…maybe you would have preferred Sasuke to compete for you and win?"

The temperature of the room suddenly dropped, as her eyes got a distant look. "Why still drag Sasuke in this?" She asked, in a low voice, turning to fully face him, a cup in her hand. "After all this time..."

He looked at her, very much regretting what he had started but too late now to retreat his words. "Well, Sakura-chan, it had been about Sasuke for so long, hadn't it?" He said carefully, nervously. "And you must agree that you have always refused to go out on a date with me…So naturally, I wondered…" He left the sentence unfinished, not knowing what to add, wanting to get the mood back to where it had been earlier, but knowing that it was too late.

"Naruto, when is the last time you asked me for a date?"

He was very surprised by the question and at the change of direction. He opened his mouth, then closed it again, thinking. He screwed in eyes, trying to remember when was the last time that he had actually asked Sakura on a date. In their genin days he had done so almost daily. After his return from his training with Jiraiya, he remembered asking her the after they managed to get the bells from Kakashi, a date which she refused because she did not agree to pay for her own meal. After that, he could not remember clearly when he has asked her again. In his mind he had asked very often, but in reality?

"It's… been very long since I asked you," he admitted finally.

"Why ?" she asked softly.

He looked at her, searching her eyes for her purpose in this conversation, but she kept her expression neutral. Inside, though, she was fearing his answer.

"I don't know…maybe because you have always refused me in the past," he replied slowly.

She looked at him, then snorted, "So you gave mean you gave up? The one who always claims to never give up?"

"After the pain invasion maybe because I feared that you would accept out of obligation," he continued, his voice was almost a whisper.

"Yes, and we both know how you hate people who lies to themselves, right?" She laughed humourlessly.

Naruto winced at that, bending his head to look at the floor.

A tensed silence settled in the room, as both of them thought about that fateful day, when Sakura had blurted her confession to Naruto in the attempt of stopping him to go after Sasuke. It seemed so long ago, but they had never mentioned that episode again. Ever.

"Sakura…How could you expect me to simply forget everything that happened just on a blink like that?" Naruto asked, staring at her. "How can you expect me to forget your desperation on that day, years ago, when you cried and asked me to bring back Sasuke; that it was the last thing you will ever asked of me. How can I forget that?"

Sakura fought back the tears that threatened overwhelm her. _I will not cry, _she vowed to herself. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she softly replied, "Naruto, I was 13 years when I asked that promise out of you. And in case you have not noticed, I'm not 13 years old anymore, and I'm nothing like that old Sakura that I was back then. At least, I hope I'm nothing like that Sakura," she said, almost bitterly. "And I had hoped that you would have been the first one to notice that."

Naruto could only stared at her, speechless.

She gave a deep sigh. "Listen, I do not want to justify and apologize about my change of heart concerning Sasuke. But it happened. I'm sorry if it disappoints you."

"What?" he looked at her incredulously, as if she was crazy. "Where did that come from, why would I be disappointed?"

"I don't know," Sakura gave a dry sob, as she quickly turned away from him, presenting him with her back once again. "Maybe because YOU did not give up on him as I did. You held on to him till the last moment, whereas I stopped having those feelings for him, since long." She whispered. "But that's the way things are, Naruto. I cannot help that. Things change."

He sat there, stunned at her words. Finally, after a silence which seemed to last eternally, he spoke. "You are so totally wrong, Sakura. It's nothing like that. I'm sorry if you felt that way, that I was expecting you to justify your change of heart. You should have known it's not like that."

Another silence followed, as the words which have been said were absorbed and processed. Slowly, Naruto came to full realization what her words really meant. As the full implications hit him, he felt his heartbeat shoot up, and his hands began to feel clammy. Sasuke had been telling him, but he had not really dared himself to believe. Now, hearing from her own mouth that she did not care for the Uchiha in _that_ way anymore, coupled with what he had actually seen the past 4 months, he felt a hope flutter in his heart. With a soft thud, he descended from his perch.

Sakura tensed as she heard him moving. The atmosphere of the room immediately changed, the tension suddenly was very palpable, thick with electricity. Her back still towards him, Sakura felt her senses suddenly on the override, as she could feel him moving towards her. A shiver ran down her spine, her hand which was still holding the cup began to tremble. A second later, she could feel his heat scorching her back, indicating that he was standing very close to her. Involuntarily she squeezed her eyes shut, her body rigid with tension.

"So…" his voice was low. "What does it all mean, finally?"

She could not reply to that. She just stood there, her mind suddenly blank.

"Do you mean to say that if I'd asked you for a date recently, you would have agreed?" his asked softly, the nervousness obvious in his voice. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her nape as he talked, he was standing as close to her as that.

She squeezed her eyes tighter at the emotions welling up inside her.

"Y-yes," she could only whispered back, her voice barely coming out from her constricted throat.

Seconds of silence followed, then, "So, it means that you will agree to go out with me if I ask you for dates now?" His voice was husky now.

Sakura felt a bead of sweat running down from her temple.

"Y-yes," she whispered.

A warm hand slowly snaked around her, raising goosebumps along the way, as Naruto gently took the cup off her trembling hand to deposit it safely away. He noticed the goosebumps on her arms, and without really realizing what he was doing, he softly rubbed her arms, as if wanting to smooth them away. Sakura almost jumped at that, her face turned towards him by instinct. Taking hold of her arms, he turned her around to face him, trapping her between the counter and his body. Sakura could not meet his eyes, she instead focused her gaze lower, on his throat. He looked down at the visibly shivering girl in his arms, noting the pink cheeks, this girl for whom he had feelings for as long as he could remember.

He bent his face closer to her, his mouth nearing her ear. "Do...do you mean you have feelings for me?" His warm breath tingled her ears, the uncertain tone obvious in his voice making her finally rise her eyes to meet those bright blue eyes who was looking at her with a shine that she had never seen in them.

"Yes." Her reply was soft but firm.

His eyes flared, his breath visibly hitched, then hot lips closed on her forehead, as he kissed above her brow. Reacting to his touch, her body leant towards those warm lips, as if wanting more. A faint smile broke in Naruto's face, both his arms went around her.

His lips hovered just mere inches above her own, as he asked another question.

"So, does it mean that you will be my girl?"

Sakura's blush deepened, green eyes wide and tremulous as she looked steadily at him.

"Ye_" the rest of her words was muffled as he closed the gap between their face and claimed her lips in a kiss.

Sakura felt her brain closed down at the contact, and could only feel as his warm lips tentatively but hotly explored her own. It took her some seconds to get out of her dazed state, then slowly she kissed him back, her breath mingling with his own, as they explored each other's lips. Sakura gasped as she felt his warm tongue running over her lower lip. Taking advantage of her gasp, Naruto immediately pushed his tongue inside her slightly opened mouth, and proceeded to unrelentingly explore and taste every bit of her that he could. Sakura felt dizzy with the raging sensations, and leant more into him for support, deepening their kiss still further. At first, she had no idea how to proceed, just letting herself being filled by him, then shyly, she started to tangle her own tongue with his.

Naruto groaned as she met him, and at first they were both awkward, neither of them having been on this path before. But slowly their need and instinct took over, tongues caressing each other, exploring each other and tasting each other. They had to break apart for breath, panting, but immediately Naruto lunged back into her, not wanting to be apart after having had the taste of heaven. Her lips were so soft and pliant beneath his own, she tasted so sweet, he felt a sense of europhia filling him, his heart hammering in his chest, as he hungrily tasted and explored her. He had longed for this for so long now that he could not seem to have enough of her, she was so intoxicating. Sakura responded with equal ardor, wanting to have as much of the kiss as he did. Their bodies were wrapped around each other, Sakura's hands had crept up to tangle in the soft blond hair as she raked her fingers across his scalp, and Naruto's hand was around her in a tight hug, one hand on her hip, anchoring her to him, while the other was roaming up and down her spine, enjoying her smooth and feminine curve.

Needing to come up for air some time later, Naruto trailed open-mouthed kisses across her cheek and jaw, then down to her neck. Sakura could only gasp his name aloud as he stopped at a sensitive spot at the side of her neck; seeing her response he nibbled tenderly at the pulse visible under her skin, then soothingly nurse the spot with his tongue. Not being able to bear it for long, Sakura grab a handful of his hair and pull his face back to her for another kiss. By this time they were both feeling frenzied, totally into each other, pent up longings coming fully up to the surface. Sakura dragged her hands down at his chest, feeling the smooth muscles ripping beneath her palms through the thin fabric of his shirt. Wanting to feel his skin, she broke the kiss and made for his button, her hands shaking so much that she fumbled a bit before finally managing to open the first one, then concentrating to get the second undone. The very tiny reasonable part still left in her was shocked at her audacity; but it was a very tiny part, because at that moment Sakura was too immersed in the incredible feelings that was engulfing her. She could not stop herself from reacting to her instincts, which was to get as close possible to the warmth of the man holding her.

In meantime, Naruto, feeling dazed by her moves, looked down at her, noting her flushed cheeks, her kiss-swollen lips, her jerky movements... He ran his hands on her sides, starting from below her arms and shaping his palms down to the gentle curve of her hips, pulling her against him and molding their bodies as closely as possible. Sakura stilled, then moaned as she felt his obvious arousal pressed against her. Their lips hotly locked again, and a deep growl left Naruto as he felt her drag her hands from his shoulders down to his freed chest, her palms and each of her fingers living their imprint on his skin as she caressed him.

Sakura suddenly felt herself being lifted and placed on the kitchen counter, and, without breaking their kiss, Naruto stepped in-between her legs, his arms sliding around her waist. The new position made that now they were both at the same level, face to face. Releasing her mouth, he again kissed his way down her neck, onto her shoulder blades, past her straps and back again. He badly wanted to touch and feel her, as she had been caressing him, but he hesitated. Then, giving in to his wish, he inched his hand towards her upper back, finding the tag of her zipper. He paused as he fingered the tag, wanting to give her the opportunity to stop him if she wanted. But she only drew him closer to her and buried her face in his neck, her breath hot and tingling his skin. With a light tug, he eased the zipper open, letting his fingers caressing the smooth silky skin being uncovered as he pulled down. He felt no barrier of a bra on her bare back, his breath hitching as he realized that her dress was the only barrier between him and her skin. He pulled himself back a little, to get enough room to first slide her straps off her shoulders, then slowly maneuver her dress's bodice down past her chest. Naruto felt the blood shot up his brain and his breath stopped as her breasts were exposed to his eyes; modest in size, but so perky and lush, the white soft looking mould of flesh tipped with ruby red nipples.

Feeling his hot eyes on her, Sakura reflectively crossed her arms over her chest, trying to hide herself. Naruto looked up at her face at that, and found her eyes tight shut, her face flaming red. Realizing that she was embarrassed, he immediately hugged her.

"Sakura…"his voice were a mere whisper. He rained small kisses on her eyes and forehead. "Look at me," he coaxed. But she still could not meet his eyes. "You are so beautiful," he murmured softly.

"They are small," she refuted in a very tiny voice, finally looking at him. At first, he could not make out her words, but when he realized what she said, he couldn't help a tender grin.

"Oh Sakura-chan…please. They are BEAUTIFUL. They are perfect!" His eyes had darkened with passion as he spoke. Then, with one hand, he brought her face forward for another kiss, and his other hand slowly removed her arms away from her front to slowly move and cup one of her breast. Sakura gasped at the contact of his warm palms so intimately on her, and hugged him tighter.

She is so soft, was Naruto only coherent thought, as he gently kneaded her softness, drawing a slow moan from Sakura, as new sensations filled her. Encouraged, he kneaded harder then tweaked the pebble hard nipples between his thumb and forefinger, making Sakura arch her body more closely into him.

"See, they are perfectly sized for my hand," he whispered heatedly into her mouth as he broke contact from her lips.

And before she could realized what was happening, he trailed his lips past her jaw line, on her neck down to one of the soft mound. Sakura could not help but cry out heatedly as he took her most of her peak into his mouth, drawing hard on her nipple as he suckled deeply. Pleasure coursed through her entire body as his mouth continued the hot treatment on her, and not knowing what to do, she instinctively grabbed his head closer to her, anything to alleviate the explosion of sensations that his mouth was bringing her.

N-Naruto..."she stammered, panting, waves of pleasure shuddering down her back, a gush of wetness moisten her inner legs, as he continued to savor her breast. When she felt that she could not bear it longer, his mouth released her and got back to her lips for another kiss.

"And they are just perfectly sized for my mouth," he breathed to her, and she only had time to stammer his name again before he bent down again and subjected her other breast to the same treatment as it's counterpart.

She was once again was reduced to a mass of sensations, all coherent thoughts flying away from her mind, as she could only feel.

Naruto was suddenly brought back to his senses when her passion filled cry ran a little loud due to him softly grazing her nipple with his teeth. Pausing, Naruto's mind slowly surfaced, making him aware of their surrounding. A slow rationality began to get grip of him, as he remembered that they were in Sakura's kitchen, her parents were in a room somewhere just mere meters away, and in their passion they had been getting quite loud that they could be heard any time. He fought to get a grip on his senses, and as much as his body was screaming for him to continue, he knew that he would have to stop now.

Taking a deep shuddering breath, willing his throbbing body to calm down, he straighten up and touched her forehead with his own, both of them breathing hard. Sakura gave an involuntary moan of protest at the interruption, her body arching towards him at the lost of his closeness. It was after quite a few seconds that he could speak.

"Sakura chan…I want you so much that you cannot even imagine." Her green eyes widened at that. "And as much as I want to make love to you right now, we have to stop. Your parents…"

Sakura was slow to process his words, her senses still in the throes of their make out and feeling lost by the sudden interruption. Giving her soothing kiss, Naruto pulled up her bodice and pulled the straps back in place, hiding her away from temptation. He then hugged her close and at the same time pulled up her zipper. Looking into her eyes, he continued,

"When we will make love, Sakura chan," his eyes _burned_ at this, "I want it to be freely, unrushed, and not with the fear of being interrupted at any second," he whispered.

As she slowly surfaced from her fogginess, she reluctantly had to agree that he was right. "Soon?" She whispered questioningly. As soon as the word was out she blushed deep red, thinking how wanton like she must sound.

Naruto felt his body react hotly to her word. To hear her voicing out that she was as eager as him was exhilarating to him. He had to fight the urge grab her back again and make love to her right then and there.

"Yes, Sakura, soon." He draw her into another passionate kiss. "Very soon. I promise," he whispered a short while later.

However her body was protesting, Sakura was thankful that _he_ had good sense to stop things from going totally out of control, because she had been totally immersed. She qualmed to think about what if her parents had heard them and came to investigate…

"It's time I leave now," Naruto whispered regretfully.

Sakura very reluctantly let go of his wonderful warm hug.

At the door, after Naruto had buttoned up his shirt and put his coat back on, they hugged and kissed again. "It's my due Good bye kiss!" claimed Naruto, grinning.

Soon, she had to laughingly pushed him away. "Okay, leave now, otherwise this will go on and we will never stop!"

"Yeah, okay, okay," he grumbled. 'Heartless!" He sighed dramatically, backing away through the open door to get out on the street. "Sweet dreams, Sakura-chan" he called out, eyes lighting mischievously.

"Yes, you too. And reach home safely, love," she called back, missing his warmth already.

She saw his eyes widened as he whispered "_love_?", and before she could blink, he was back hugging her again, almost lifting her from her feet.

"I love you, Sakura-chan. Have done so for very long, and will do so for ever," he whispered heatedly, kissing her again, as if sealing the statement.

"I love you too, Naruto," she replied softly when he finally raised his head, looking into the blue cerulean eyes and letting her own eyes telling him her feelings.

His face lit with a happy grin. Then, giving a loud whoop, he jumped back to the road.

"Yes, dattebayo!" He yelled on top of his voice.

Sakura frantically motioned him to lower his voice, but it was too late. His voice resonated around the surrounding area. An indignant howl replied back, as a poor dog who had been trying to sleep was jerked awake by the sudden loud yell. The neighboring dogs, which were instantly awake by the call of their friend, howled back. And soon, a serenade of howls began, resonating through the neighborhood.

Sakura quickly jumped inside her house, not wanting to be out when her neighbors would start yelling their anger at the late night disturbance.

"Naruto you baka," she groaned, but couldn't help the big happy smile lighting up her face.

In a room at the back of the Haruno's house, Mr Haruno was sweatdropping. _That young man sure is very enthusiastic,_ he thought. _Well, at least he had not lingered TOO long,_ he thought again, the respect for the boy rising a notch higher. Not that he thought he was the type of boy to do anything rash while the parents were meters away, but still, now that his daughter was back in the home, alone, he, the Dad, could go back to sleep now. His duty as a father was done, his princess was safe home.

That what Dads was about, after all, looking after their little princesses.

Well, he would go back to sleep as soon as those freaking dogs would stop their serenade, he sighed, as he snuggled deeper in his bed in the attempt to catch his sleep.

**XOXOXO**

3 Years later.

"And that was the night our love life started," Sakura said in a soft voice, as she looked at the pictures which ornated the mantle. The star of the numerous sets was the one which featured her and Naruto, in their fineries in her parents leaving room, the picture which her Dad took just before they had set out for their date. The shot had captured the shine in both their eyes, as they stood side by side, a faint nervous smile in both their faces.

She then focused on another picture frame, which had been taken near the end of the ball, featuring a group of people; The Rookie 9 completed with Sasuke this time, Sai, Team Gai, Akemi, Gaara, Yuki, Temari and Kankuro. They were all laughing in that picture, well, all except Gaara, who does not laugh anyway, Neiji, who had a small smile and Sasuke, who was totally stoic. But still, the picture oozed happiness.

"And you see," she continued softly, "that party brought so many people together. Many happy couples had been formed from that fateful night."

A sudden rush of winds ruffled her hair, and a second later, warm hands sneaked around her from the back, drawing her into a close hug.

"You should really stop using the window as entrance, you know," she chided softly, basking in the warmth of those arms.

"Hmm, but it's the fastest way to reach you, Sakura-chan," Naruto growled softly, kissing the side of her neck, drawing a pleasured moan from her. He gently dropped his right hand on her bulging 7 months pregnant belly, rubbing softly in circular motion.

"Been giving you trouble, has she?" He questioned.

"Yeah, she's been particularly active today. So, I was telling her our story," Sakura chuckled. They had not yet known the sex of their baby, they wanted to have the surprise at birth, but Naruto insisted of calling it a She. He wished for a girl, so he said that he want to call it a "She' at least until the birth, in case it was a boy. "_At least I would have had a girl for nine months,_" he had solemnly told Sakura.

"Princess, you've been naughty to mama?" He addressed her belly from across her shoulder. Sakura laughed as she angled her face towards her now 2-years long husband for a kiss. Naruto turned her in his arms to fully return her kiss, kissing her, as usual, hungrily, as if there was no tomorrow.

A full minute later…

"Naruto, we will be late," Sakura weakly tried to stop the hot lips edging down her throat.

Gaara, his wife Yuki, and their 2 years old son were in Konoha at the moment, having come to visit Temari and Shikamaru, who had their baby girl 2 months ago. The gang had planned meet for dinner that evening.

"Naruto..." she growled warningly, as a hand came up to pull her dress off her shoulders. But he was already pulling her defenses down. She still had difficulty to hold on to her senses when Naruto get to work like that.

Naruto stopped, but only to carefully swing her up his arms, bridal style, and he smiled devilishly at her. "Sakura-chan, we won't be THAT late!" Sakura only had time for a yelp to escape from her, before her mouth was taken into another kiss, as Naruto carried her towards their bed.

A long while later…

They were very promptly led to the table where the others awaited them, being the last ones to arrive at the restaurant where they were supposed to meet. All their friends were already there. After the greetings, Naruto and Sakura enquired about Gaaraa's son and Shikamaru's daughter, and learned that Shikamaru's parents were babysitting their 2 grandkids for the night.

"You will definitely want to look into somebody to babysit for you guys for when you will want to have some time for yourselves," laughingly warned Temari.

"Well, Tsunade Baa-chan and Sakura's parents have already proposed their services," Naruto informed her.

"Very late, aren't you?" Ino whispered with an arched eyebrow to Sakura, as she carefully shifted her 4 months pregnant belly to allow Sakura to get to her chair.

"We were trying out a new position," whispered back Sakura, deadpanned.

"Oh is it more comfortable?" Hinata asked, immediately shifting to get closer as she caught Sakura's whispered words; at least, as close as her almost bursting 9 months pregnant belly would allow her to. She was at the very miserable stage of her pregnancy, where her huge belly was really making her cranky, and added to that she had been feeling horny but her belly really was getting on the way, literally. So, any possibility for a comfortable position really caught her total attention.

"Well yeah it worked quite well," replied Sakura, a tad bit smugly.

"Well then share!" Ino cammanded.

Ten-Ten, only the newest in the pregnancy group being only 2 months along, brought her chair closer too, not wanting to lose the opportunity of having some pointers for later, while Temari, Yuki and Akemi smiled indulgently, having been through those days already.

The females brought their heads together, soon excited whispers could be heard, with sudden loud words like:

"Really? Oh…Does that work?"

"Oh, I must do that…"

The males, which have automatically grouped on one side of the tables when their wives had flocked together, looked on.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru said, "I'm sure they must be talking about kicks and pains and baby stuffs and nappies and what not." The others chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah, talk about it, man. Hinata is only complaining these days. We both wish the baby will come soon now," Kiba grumbled, looking harried.

"Before I forget, can anyone of you tell me where I can get pickled onions?" Sai asked.

"Picked Onion?" Naruto nose scrunched up at that. "Pickled onions? People eat that?"

"Yeah, Ino read about it in a book and now she WANTS Pickled Onion," Sai explained, looking miserable, making the others only guessing what the poor guy had been through if a pregnant, hormonal Ino was demanding pickled onions and not getting it.

"I'll ask my mom to make some for you, she knows everything about food," offered Chouji, and Sai gratefully thanked him.

"Well, count yourself lucky, Yuki wanted ice cream on one of our short journey in the desert," Gaaraa said, his usual expressionless face faintly sour while he recalled that incident.

The others laughed. 15 months old Uchiha Akira chuckled loudly as the adults laughed, as he happily bounced on his Godfather's lap. Naruto immediately cooed and babbled along with him, tickling him lightly and making the toddler squeal. Earlier, Naruto had insisted that Sasuke bring Akira along for the dinner, wanting to spend some time with his Godson.

The women, having finished with their conversation, joined in the talk.

"You guys must give us some tips on how to through the labour," Kiba asked, pointing at Sasuke, Gaaraa and Shikamaru.

"Well, it's certainly not as what Naruto did during Akira's birth," Shikamaru drawled. The others laughed at the memory, as they recalled that day..

The then to be dad, Sasuke, had been outwardly his usual calm, waiting for Sakura to come out of the labour room to give him updates on Akemi; the birth has had some complications, so Sasuke had not been able to be with her in the labor room. Naruto, who had come to supposedly give his friend moral support, had been pacing the floors furiously. He blond had harassed any nurse that would come out of the labour room, jumping on them for updates, muttering in nervousness when they did not have any. The Uchiha, even though had been nervous himself, had been exhausted by the antiques of the energetic blond. Finally, due to the complaints from the nurses about their being harassed constantly but not being able to ask him to leave, Sakura had to momentarily leave the side of the poor laboring Akemi to come to physically remove Naruto from the premises of the labour ward.

Then, barely a quarter hour after Sasuke had met his son, Naruto had returned, demanding to meet his Godson. Sasuke had not given any thoughts about godparents for his child, but with Naruto auto proclaiming himself as the godfather, he was sort of put in front of an accomplished fact. But he had not mind.

Sasuke could swear that even the 1 hour old Akira had an abashed expression on his face as he was cooed and gaahed by the very enthusiastic and energetic blond with shining blue eyed man who was his godfather.

Coming back to the present…

"He he, yeah, you can laugh all you want, but wait till YOU are on that road," Naruto grumbled.

"Somebody please promise me to remove this baka from my bedside if he decides to go whacko on me during my labour," Sakura groaned.

"Sakura chan!" Naruto whined. "So, when are you going to give my second Godchild?" He asked Sasuke and Akemi.

A punch landed on his head, as Sakura scolded him. "Narutoo!"

"Ow Sakura chan!"

"Naruto, apart from the fact that this none of your business, you don't _ask_ to be a godfather, it's the parents who _propose_ you to be one!" Sakura admonished.

Sasuke smirked at that.

"Besides," Sakura continued, cutting Naruto speech as he opened his mouth, "It is the norm that one does not godparent more than one child per family, thus giving other family member the opportunity to be Godparents!"

"Norm? I am the Hokage and I will change that norm!" Naruto retorted indignantly. "And anyway, I have the soul copyright of godfathership over whatever he produces," he asserted, pointing at Sasuke, while the Uchiha glared at him. Sakura sweatdropped at that, while Akira happily clapped and gurgled.

"See? Even Akira chan is agreeable to that," Naruto exclaimed, clapping along with Akira and hi-fived him. Akira immediately hi-fived back, causing the others to chuckle at the sight.

"You two look so alike right now!" smiled Akemi. "And he is quite a handful, same like you, Naruto-san!" she teased.

"Didn't you know, a Godfather always passes some of his traits to his Godchild. So, be prepared that he will be a LOT like me!" Naruto replied. "Good thing that he will not be a 'hnn' guy like you!" He mocked Sasuke.

"In that case, at least there will be _one_ quiet person in the Uzumaki household then," Sasuke immediately snorted, pointing his chin towards Sakura's belly.

Both Sakura and Naruto stilled, nonplussed. They had both agreed about Sasuke being the Godfather of their baby, though they had not yet asked him. But his words, which denotes that he has already considered himself to be the godfather, make both the Uzumakis heart hot with emotions.

Naruto was the first one to recover.

"Haaaaaa! Well then I must make sure that you talk a lot more!" He grabbed Sasuke by the neck with one hand, shaking him, while his other hand held Shiro securely to him.

"Talk, talk, you must start to talk more before Hime chan come in this world! I do not want to have only hn in her vocabulary…Who would want to marry her in this case?"

Everybody at that table laughed.

"But maybe it would be a good thing, though," pausing in his shaking, Naruto mused aloud. "At least it will keep all weirdo at bay from her!"

Everybody at the table sweatdropped at that.

The friends continued with their easy banter, enjoying themselves and looking into a future full of promises.

End.


End file.
